Wherein we Live Without the War
by brizamartian
Summary: When an insane, revenge crazed, Azula escapes from the palace, Ty Lee may be the only one who can bring her back, but what will she lose in the process? Will Zuko ruin not only his own life, but the lives of those he cares about most? Will Aang finally give up and give in to his baser instincts? At what cost to himself? At what cost to Katara? M for language, sex, and violence.
1. Love Hurts

Screaming in the dark/I howl when we're apart/drag my teeth across your chest to taste your beating heart.

-Florence + the Machine, _Howl_

* * *

Aang is the Avatar. He is a monk. He is powerful and wise beyond his years. He is a teenaged boy. At the heart of it all, he is a teenaged boy, so it isn't like he doesn't notice how gorgeous his girlfriend is. He can't help but be a little proud that he managed to get a girl two years his senior at the age of only twelve, but he's feeling the age difference more now. He's sixteen and still a boy. Katara is eighteen and definitely not a girl anymore.

Those aren't a girl's hips. That isn't a girl's butt. Those aren't a girl's breasts. She's a woman now, and she wants to do things that women do, but Aang can't help but feel that, despite all the things he's done, all the power he has, he's still just a boy.

The things Katara wants…The things she wants to do with him, and her hips and her butt and her breasts are making it more and more difficult to tell her no.

He's a monk. He never expected to fall in love. He never expected to want these things, but he does. He can't tell her no forever so he's told her no until they get married. Then…then he can't say no anymore.

But the wedding is still a few months off. He can wait a few months, right? He _wants_ to wait a few more months, right? Just four more months and they'll be married and then he doesn't have to say no anymore. He _can't_ say no anymore.

But spirits, doesn't she look good right now? Getting dressed for the day. Wiggling into her clothes. Tidying up her hair. The sun is playing off her skin and lighting up her eyes. Doesn't she look good? Isn't she beautiful?

They sleep in the same bed every night, but nothing ever happens. Nothing can happen. Yet. Even when Aang- no, Katara wants them to.

Sometimes she roles over onto her side and kisses him. She whispers "I love you, Aang. I love you so much it hurts. Do you love me, Aang?" And she'll make that face and talk in that voice. That face that makes it hard not to do it right then and there. That voice that makes it hard not to rip off her clothes and go places that aren't safe. He'd tear out his hair, if he had any, trying to resist that face and that voice and her breasts and hips and butt.

"Of course I love you, Katara," he'd whisper with barely suppressed lust, back against her lips. "I've loved you since the moment I first saw you." And that was the truth. When he'd woken up after a hundred years in the iceberg, her face was the first thing he'd seen. He'd thought he'd died. Died and gone off somewhere better. A place where creatures as beautiful as she would hold him in their arms and love him the way he never thought he'd be loved. It's here though, isn't it? In their bed at night. Whispering random, sleepy, sappy shit - sorry - murmurings to each other. Have to watch the language.

He has this girl. This beautiful girl he didn't think could be real in his arms every night, and he keeps telling her no.

"One can only reach true enlightenment, if he lets go of what attaches him to this world. Do you understand what that means, Aang?" Monk Gyatso had asked over a hundred years ago.

"Yes, I understand. I have to detach myself from the world to find peace."

"But, do you understand what that entails?"

"What do you mean?"

"Love is the strongest weapon both for and against a man, Aang. It can tear good men, good monks, apart with desire and longing. This desire is yet another tether to the world Aang. You are the Avatar, so you are different. You have a duty to the world, but desire is still a dangerous enemy."

"How can love be an enemy?" Aang asked.

"Not love, Aang. What comes with it. Desire. What do men desire most?"

"Fruit pie?" Aang said, only half joking.

"Hahaha! Good one, Aang. That is indeed one thing men desire, yes, but the thing men desire most, is women."

"Oh," Aang said, turning red. He knew the conversation that was coming, wasn't ready for it, didn't want to talk about it.

"Aang, there will come a time when you too are a man, and you desire women as well, but you must remember: You are a monk. You are the Avatar."

"Yes, I know. No women for me. I know," he said, looking away. He wondered at the time what it would be like. To love a woman. He thought about it more and more. He felt that maybe he was depriving himself of something mysterious and wonderful, but he couldn't really imagine it at all. He had never felt anything like _that _before.

He sighed loudly before he said "I understand, Monk Gyatso. I am a Monk, and I am the Avatar. So, no women."

Gyatso chuckled "Easier said than done, young Avatar. Easier said than done."

Aang understands what he means now. _Impossible, more like though, _he thinks. The first time they kissed he decided it was ok. It's ok to kiss right? Just a gentle pressing of the lips, isn't it? Nothing more. Bullshit - sorry - utter crap - sorry - whatever, it isn't true. It's very not true. It's so not true, it's terrifying. That kiss. It made him want more. That's why it was so terrifying. He understood desire for the very first time. It ignited a fire in him that he hadn't ever felt before. It made him _crave _her in a way that was almost animal. He still craves her, more and more with each passing day, and it honestly couldn't be true, but it seems that she becomes more beautiful every time he sees her.

No. No, a kiss is not just a kiss. Not with Katara. With Katara, Aang sees the world, and the world is fucking - sorry - _very _beautiful. It's so very, fucking beautiful, and fuck decent language, sometimes it's not enough, is it?

Desire. It will be his undoing. He can't not want her. He can't pretend not to want her. He wants her. He wants her, _now_.

_I am a monk. I am the Avatar. Desire is a bitch. Fuck decent language._

"I'm going to a meeting, Aang."

"Huh? Oh, alright," he says, disoriented at being yanked so forcefully from his thoughts. "I have a meeting later, too. I should probably get ready."

"Alright," she crosses the room, _their_ room on the little island they've called "Air Temple Island," and kisses his bald head. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah."

_Spirits, she's beautiful, _he thinks as he watches her retreating back. How do you give this up? How do you resist this? Enlightenment. Is it worth it when you can have a beautiful woman in your arms instead? When you can love someone like this? Be as close as you can ever be to another person? So close, you're inside and you're all over and it must be so very, fucking beautiful.

_Four months, and..._

* * *

Zuko's pissed off. Well, at least more so than usual. Mai is off somewhere being a complete bitch, and he can't understand her problem sometimes. If she wants him, wants to be with him, then she's going to have to be willing to put up with his shit. And sure, he might be throwing a bit more shit in her face than usual, but honestly it isn't his fault. He's dealing with ruling a nation here, hell, he's dealing with practically ruling the whole fucking, broken world, and he has to fix it.

The Earth Kingdom is on thin ice, at best. After Azula's takeover, Ba Sing Se fell into disorder, the power constantly fluctuating between powerful lords, council members, and mob mentality. Sokka's in Ba Sing Se right now trying to get preparations for Zuko and Aang's little dream city underway. They're such pathetic dreamers, aren't they?

A city where all types of benders, all types of people, could live together in "harmony"? Bullshit, right? Aang is an optimist, he believes they can fix the world, and he's the Avatar, so _maybe_ he can, but Zuko honestly doesn't know how one person can erase all the hate. Hate isn't fleeting like love. Hate lodges itself in deeper and poisons you and eats you alive and you die with it. You die with hate, and he shudders to think how many people died hating the Fire Nation, cursing Sozin's name, and Azulon's, and Ozai's and maybe even his own. It's a sobering thought, one that's been running through his head a lot lately. He supposes that maybe he's been taking his frustration out on Mai, but he doesn't have anyone else to confide in.

He hears a knock at the door and hopes to the spirits that it's Mai so he can apologize for yelling at her, but it isn't. It's Suki, head of his private guard. He hasn't been able to get a handle on his paranoia, so being that Suki and the Kyoshi warriors are the only guards he can trust not to betray him, he's signed them on as his personal guard indefinitely.

"Evening, Zuko," she says.

"Oh, hello Suki,"

She takes one long look at Zuko and one long look at his room "Fight with, Mai again?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"I've known you for a while now, Zuko. It's not that difficult to figure out."

Zuko offers a thoughtful "Humph."

"Well, anyway, I came to make sure you're ok and everything, being head of your personal guard and all," she says with a slight smile and slight sarcasm.

"I'm fine," he says, halfheartedly. He gestures her in, realizing that the space Mai had occupied is now empty and is slowing sucking all the air out of the space, making it hard to breath and too painful to want to. He doesn't like to be alone, anymore. His thoughts fill the seconds and they're going to drive him insane. He's going to end up in a mental hospital like Azula, or at the very least, with grey hairs if he doesn't stop thinking about every little fault in the world.

Suki comes in and sits on the end of the bed. It's not an unusual sight. She comes around at least once a day to check on him, and he's grown not only used to, but fond of her presence, despite himself.

"I'm worried about Ty Lee," she says, changing the subject. _She knows to change to subject, Mai never does that, _Zuko thinks, _Mai just keeps pushing and pushing. _

"Why?" he asks, watching her. Grateful that she understands him, _maybe even better than Mai. _

"She's been very distracted lately, and…well I worry that I know why. Or, more accurately, with whom."

He smiles. Suki's the type of girl to actually say "whom" when needed. It's strangely endearing. "You thinks she likes someone?" he asks, picking up on her train of thought.

"Yes."

"Who? I wouldn't think she has time to flirt with boys. She works so hard."

"Maybe they're not a boy," Suki says, somewhat vaguely.

"What do you mean?" Suki just stares, waiting for him to get it "Oh," he says, too loudly "You think she's distracted with a _girl_?"

"Yeah."

"Um, Suki? I'm not sure that Ty Lee is…"

"Lesbian? Into girls? Well, she is."

"You're sure about that?"

"Yes," she smirks. She looks good when she smirks, even under the face paint. "You are so oblivious, Zuko."

"I am?" he asks more stupidly than he really means to, but Suki laughs and he likes that. He likes her laugh.

"Yes. Especially because she's hopelessly in love with your sister."

"What!?"

"Yeah. You never noticed that?" Zuko thought that over. He knows that Ty Lee's always been a bit infatuated with his sister. Too much in fact. Ty Lee was a beautiful girl and yet she claims that Azula is far more beautiful, that she couldn't compare. She has no self-esteem and Azula's the type to take advantage of low-self esteem, and Ty Lee is the type to be taken advantage of.

"Ok, I believe it."

"Mmm…" Suki gives him a look he finds disturbingly attractive. The look says "Good boy, I knew you had a brain."

"I'm worried about her. It's really not healthy. This obsession. It really is an obsession."

"I know. What should we do?"

"Well, I think Yuko's trying to handle it."

"Yuko? Why Yuko?" he asks. Suki gives him an encouraging look.

"Yuko likes Ty Lee."

"There you go!" she says, grinning at him "I knew you'd get it. Wow, you're really out of it aren't you?"

"Yeah…"

"What happened with you two?" she says, now continuing the conversation he doesn't want to have.

"I was a complete dick to her, as usual."

"You sort of have a right to be dickish. Sort of."

"I'm just…it's so hard. I knew it would be. I knew ruling a nation wouldn't be easy, but a war just tore the whole world to fucking pieces, and who has to put them all back together? Aang and I."

"True, that's a lot of pressure."

"Exactly!" he cries, feeling his heart speed up with the thrill of being understood. "There's so much to do. So much. I haven't slept, I don't have time to eat, if I'm honest I should be working right now! I'm just…I'm just...I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she says, putting a hand on his face, on his scar. "I get it."

"She doesn't."

"I know, but when has she had to deal with anything like this?"

"Never. She's a spoiled bitch."

"Don't say that. You love her, but in a way, it's true. She just doesn't get it, so don't be so mean to her, alright? She's stuck by you for years now."

"I know."

"Ok, good," she looks like she wants to say something else, but she doesn't.

"You've stuck by me, too," he says, quietly.

"Yes, I have, haven't I?"

He wants very, very badly to kiss her then. He understands Sokka to a startling extent for a few seconds. He understands how he loves this women. She's kind and strong and beautiful. She knows what to say. She isn't distant and cold like Mai, she's close and warm. For a second he's afraid that he loves her. He waits for that second to pass, but it doesn't. He's still afraid.

"I'm going to go spy on Yuko and Ty Lee," she says matter-of-factly, as if spying on her subordinates is common practice.

"Alright…let me know how they are."

"Ok," she says as she gets up. He wants to take her hand. He wants to say a million things to her, but he doesn't have any words to say them with. They're just feelings that he can't quite translate into words. He doesn't say anything.

"Talk to Mai?" she says before she's out the door. Zuko forgets who Mai is for a second.

"Oh…right. Ok, I will." She smiles over he shoulder and then she's gone and the empty space in the room is more suffocating than is was before.

* * *

"_I'm addicted to you," she whispers, voice wavering on the verge of tears and climax._

_"I'm addictive," comes the reply, strong, not wavering in the least._

_"It isn't right, but- I'm afraid I can't stand on my own. I want to. I swear I do, but I can't and you're my crutch." She wants to stop talking, she really does. She's saying things that are meant to remain unsaid, but her body feels like breaking apart and it's taking her mind with it. She has to say these words before- but why? What happens when she tips over the edge? She's already fallen, hasn't she? What more does she have to lose? Why is it important? Why-_

_"So, I've been reduced to a mere crutch?"_

_"No! You're everything!" She gasps, tears leaking from her eyes. She tries to say more, but any words are swallowed by a loud groan. Oh, spirits..._

_"I know. As I should be. Now, stop talking."_

* * *

For Ty Lee, Azula had always been, would always be, something to aspire to. At least to a certain extent. She has always admired her beauty, her confidence, and her intelligence. She's always looked upon her with a sense of unrepressed awe.

Azula had known this, of course. She had known it and she had exploited it, but Ty Lee didn't care. Ty Lee was always searching for a bit of Azula's approval. Just a small acknowledgment. A passing compliment. She hardly ever got it, but still she'd searched.

Even when Azula took advantage of her. Even when she hurt her, Ty Lee still admires the cool confidence and grace that Azula was lucky enough to be born with. Ty Lee knows it probably isn't very good for her aura.

She tells herself that she's happy now. She's a Kyoshi warrior, a member of a group of powerful and confident women, _but, they're not Azula, _a treacherous voice whispers in her head.

"Leave me alone!" she yells.

"What?" asks Yuko, the fellow Kyoshi Ty Lee is currently patrolling the Fire Nation palace with.

"I…um…nothing. It's nothing."

"Are you sure?" Yuko asks, concerned.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"Alright," Yuko says, though she didn't sound sure and she keeps her eye on Ty Lee.

Ty Lee can feel her legs moving, makes all the necessary "patrolling" gestures, but her heart and mind are far away.

It was a lazy day at the palace. Zuko had betrayed his nation and was off with the Avatar. Mai had locked herself in her bedroom and refused to speak to anyone. Azula looked more tired than Ty Lee had ever seen her. She had followed her to her bedroom and knocked on the door.

"What is it?" Azula snapped.

"I, uh, just wanted to see how you were," Ty Lee said.

"I'm fine,"

"Are you sure? You look tired."

"Well, I suppose I wouldn't be so tired if ZuZu hadn't up and betrayed his country and now has to be stopped."

"Stopped?" Ty Lee asked, hoping stopped didn't mean "killed", but knowing Azula, it did.

"And I have to do it," she said. "Do you know how difficult it is? Planning an assault like this? It's not just my brother now. Now it's him and the Avatar and the Avatar's annoying friends." Azula sighed, pressing her fingers into her eyes. _Even worn down and stressed out like this, Azula is still so beautiful, _Ty Lee thought to herself.

"I'm so sorry, Azula. Is there anything I can do? Anything? I'll do it!" Ty Lee was eager to please her.

"A foot rub would be nice" she replied "You'd think my servants could give a decent foot rub but…" she scoffed and shook her head, then stretched out on the bed.

"No problem, Azula."

Ty Lee was happy to bring Azula just a bit of relaxation at a time like this. She felt a pang of hatred for Zuko for putting her through all of this.

"Is this ok, Azula?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes. Continue," she said, obviously enjoying her massage.

"You're so beautiful, Azula," Ty Lee whispered under her breath.

"I kno - " Azula cut herself off "Thank you."

Ty Lee's eyes widened. Had she really said that out loud? More importantly, did Azula just say _thank you? _To her!? "Oh, I, uh, didn't realize- I thought that was only in my head," Ty Lee stuttered.

"Oh that's alright," Azula said, somewhat arrogantly. "It's the truth after all, why not say it?"

"Yeah…" Ty Lee said, but she was hiding the pink blush creeping up her neck.

"You know, Ty Lee, you're rather pretty yourself. In a more common sort of way."

"You think so?" she breathed. She wanted to bottle this moment. To keep it near her heart forever because not once had Azula said she was pretty and probably wouldn't again, but still her heart swelled and he aura must've been positively blinding in its pinkness.

"Well, yes."

Ty Lee was beaming. She knew the way that guys reacted to her, she knew that she was pretty, but still, this was Azula.

"Oh, thank you, Azula!"

Azula leaned forward and brushed her fingers through her hair. Ty Lee wished she had nerves in her hair so she could feel the touch of her fingers as they brushed through the soft brown strands. Ty Lee didn't move, didn't breath and Azula leaned forward.

"Yes, you're pretty, Ty Lee," she whispered against her lips. She was so close. Ty Lee trembled. She hated that she trembled, but she was scared. She didn't know what to do or think. She couldn't think. Just a little further and-

Azula has very soft lips. Lips that Ty Lee had sometimes, and still, dreamed of kissing, but she'd never tell Azula that. Now though…Now Azula was kissing her. What to do, what to think, what to say?

"I love you, Azula," she said, pulling back a little, not really wanting to leave her lips, but needing to say the words.

"I know," replied Azula, leaning forward to kiss her again.

"Ty Lee? Ty Lee?!"

"Huh?" Ty Lee snaps suddenly out of the memory.

"Wow, you were completely out of it," Yuko comments.

"I'm sorry, Yuko. I've got a lot on my mind. I'm totally gonna break out if I keep stressing like this."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Yuko asks. Ty Lee almost can't hold back the torrent of feeling. Almost wants to tell Yuko everything that's inside of her. Yuko with her calm, mature manner and pretty green eyes, and long black hair, and full lips, and -

Why is she thinking that?

"I, uh, was just thinking about some things."

"I can imagine." It takes Ty Lee a little while to get the joke.

"Oh!" she says, loudly "Right. Because of course I have to be thinking some things. I get it." Yuko smiles a genuine smile at her. _Azula doesn't smile like that, _Ty Lee thinks. Azula's smiles were always cruel no matter what she was smiling at, even at her in the early morning. Even when Ty Lee felt Azula's soft skin against her when they woke up naked in the morning, silk sheets separating them from the rest of the world. Even when Azula was whispering her name, and her hands were in her hair and -

_Stop it. Stop it, Ty Lee._

"I'm ok, Yuko. Really. Just a bit distracted, but hey, when am I not?"

"That's true," Yuko says, kindly. "But, listen, if there's anything you ever need, anything you ever want to talk about, you can talk to me, ok? I'm here for you."

Tears well up in Ty Lee's eyes. They sting with Yuko's kindness. The kindness she doesn't deserve, because her bubbly facade is just that. Because Ty Lee is messed up and wrong, and wrong, and wrong. Because love shouldn't hurt, but she couldn't help but want it, even when it hurt.

"Thank you, Yuko. Thank you so much. Really though, I'm fine."

* * *

**Hey Lovely people!**

Thanks for reading and please review! I really want to know what you guys think, and I love reviews! The good the bad and the fucking-sorry- very ugly. Next chapter? Umm...expect sex, and umm...drama. More drama in general. Lots of drama. Hearts get broken, backs get stabbed, the whole nine yards, so keep on reading! Once again, thanks all you readers, I love you soooooo much!

Later.

* * *

**Update:**

I decided it would be a good idea to give y'all a release date for new chapters, you know, so I have to stick to a deadline and such. It'll help me get my chapters out faster. So expect chapter 2 on Friday, May 10, 2013 sometime! :)


	2. Time

"You see. No shock. No engulfment. No tearing assunder. What you feared would come like an explosion is like a whisper. What you thought was the end is the beginning."

- Rod Serling

* * *

_"Yes…Yes! Don't stop, Aang, don't you fucking stop!"_

_She can't take much more. She's going to come. She's going to scream. She can feel it threatening to tear through her throat._

_"Yes! Spirits, yes!" _

_She doesn't have any hair to tangle her fingers in so she rests her hands on his shoulders_

_It's amazing. Better than she ever imagined. Spirits, he's so good. She expected him to be. He's the fucking Avatar after all, but spirits, this is so good. So good._

_"Aang…Aang! I…ah…I…"_

_Spirits…_

* * *

Katara wakes with a start and trail of sweat down her back. She gasps like a fish out of water for a moment, struggling to get her fevered breathing under control. She takes a long look at Aang, sleeping soundly in the bed next to her. Good, she didn't wake him. She thought she might've. That maybe she'd been moaning in her sleep, and whispering his name and begging him for more, more, more.

It's pathetic, really. These dreams come all the time now. They leave her feeling hollow and empty. She wants something to fill the space, figuratively and literally, of course, but he keeps telling her no. She doesn't ever ask, really, at least not in so many words as "Aang, fuck me. _Now. _Bang me against the headboard until I see spirits. Bend me over. Have your way. I want your dick." That's obviously what she wants to say, but that would be even more pathetic, so she settles for a subtler approach.

She tosses her hair around. She shifts her hips when she walks and is sure to bend down in front of him and let him stare down her cleavage. She whispers words in as seductive a voice as she can muster with as seductive a face as she can manage. It makes her feel dirty and wrong and very pathetic, but she wants him desperately.

She isn't sure when the desire arrived, but she hasn't been able to get it to leave since it had. She can't pinpoint a particular day. She didn't suddenly say "Huh, I think I want to fuck Aang today." It was more like she began to notice things. Things that weren't there before.

His voice is deeper now, for one thing. Much deeper, and Katara can't help but find it irresistibly sexy. She loves the way he says her name. The way he tells her he loves her. It drives her crazy.

She also happened to notice one day, how toned his abs are. Actually how toned his everything is. Being the Avatar means training all the time to perfect his skills, so naturally, he's pretty toned. Very toned. He's thin, still a teenager after all, but it's all muscle, every bit of him.

She knows because she hangs out at the doorway to their private hotspring, waiting for him to come out, wrapped only in a towel, dripping wet. She pretends she isn't just loitering around there to gawk at his bare chest and his thighs and the beautiful way his bald head connects to his spine and the way his back curves down, and down. She pretends she isn't hoping that the towel will be just low enough that she could just see the top of his amazingly, perfect ass, not to mention the black hair that had begun to form a trail under his naval and down to his… She can't even begin to think about that. It makes her face hot and her hands shake.

He's younger than her, two years her junior, but it doesn't even matter. Half the time she feels like a little girl compared to Aang's godlike qualities. She feels pathetic next to him.

He's powerful and strong and so beautiful. So _moral. _He wouldn't stoop as low as she has. He'd never feel as desperate a she does. The pathetic longing that she feels? No, he'd never feel that. He always calmly tells her no when she says it to him with her eyes. Expresses the deep, torturous desire to have him inside of her, panting her name and making her beg.

She's pathetic. Pathetic, pathetic, pathetic. But she loves him so much. It won't be much longer though. Just four more months, or, no, not even now. Fourteen weeks? Fourteen weeks, yes, she'll be counting down. Then, finally then.

_I hope..._

* * *

She's got him laughing hard. _Good, he needs a good laugh._

"You can't be serious," he says in between his hysterical giggles.

"I'm serious, Zuko!" Suki says "He actually said 'Thank you, I don't expect any _breast!"_

"Oh, spirits," Zuko says, still laughing "What did he say after that? Did he realize what he just said?"

"Yeah, and he blushed and said, 'Oh, sorry, I didn't mean that, you're just so _boobiful_!"

"Boobiful? You're joking!?" he says, an explosion of laughter waiting in his throat.

"No, he said boobiful. And then he started stuttering like a complete idiot. I bid him my farewell then," the last part she accompanied with a flourish of the hand and a mockingly polite tone.

"Shit, Suki. Do you always deal with creeps?"

"He wasn't a creep. He was just this young Earth Kingdom guy. Fresh out of the University, probably his first day on the job."

"But all he could think about were your boobs!"

"Well, you know," she says with a smile and a careless shrug, as if to say "it's not easy being boobiful."

"Not that I blame him or anything," Zuko says, quietly, but not too quietly for Suki not to catch it. She doesn't bother with the whole "Huh?" or "What do you mean?" thing. Obviously she knows what he means.

It isn't his words that make her uneasy, so much as the feelings that they evoke. She finds herself blushing at the compliment and gets the distinct urge to look down and hide her face with her hair and cover her chest. What's worst, she also wants to take her clothes off and let Zuko look at her. Drink her in with his eyes and see everything. Her breasts and her scars and her bones. She wants to know what he thinks of them. Would he like what he saw? Would he like them better than Mai's? Are Mai's breasts and scars and bones more appealing to him than her own? She wants to ask. She wants to take all her clothes off and ask.

She doesn't, though, instead she plays it off as a friendly compliment.

"Aww, thanks Zuko," she says, injecting as much flat cheer as she can into her voice. They both know it was more than a friendly compliment, but Zuko doesn't have to know that she knows.

"You're welcome," he says quietly, after some delay. It makes her feel terrible. He wanted a different response. He wanted her to acknowledge the feelings that have been growing between them for the past three years, but it seems as if she just brushed them off like they were nothing.

She wants to cradle his face in her hands and tell him how she really feels. How every moment with him is pure exhilaration. How she actually loves to hear him complain and loves his laugh and could stare at him forever. How she loves the way he is when he's quiet. How he can sit and think with her in the room and the silence is so comfortable. It's the sheets they both lay in together and no one can penetrate their silent world of minutes spent between work and meetings and all the crazy shit that make up their lives now. How she used to hate him. How she still does sometimes because he's a dick sometimes, but how she loves him even so.

She wants to, but can't. It's wrong. Very wrong. She's with Sokka. Sure they aren't married, _yet, _but she's still his girlfriend and if she's honest with herself, it isn't like Zuko has replaced him. She loves Zuko in addition to Sokka, which, of course, is wrong.

Sokka makes her so unbearably happy. His jokes suck, which makes them funny. He seems kind of dumb, which makes his often profound epiphanies all the more profound. He's strong in a special way that she admires greatly. She has so much respect for him. He drives her nuts, completely batshit sometimes, but in the best possible way. He fits her. They complete a beautiful puzzle together. She loves him, deeply.

Zuko doesn't fit. She and him. They are puzzle pieces from different puzzles who have somehow been mismatched together. That's why it's so exhilarating. Most wrong things are. He's to marry Mai soon, before Aang and Katara's wedding. And she had always imaged she would marry Sokka. Hell, she still really wants to marry Sokka. Wants that no doubt ugly ass betrothal necklace he would make her and him to say the words. She wants that, she really does, but she isn't quite ready to give up this mismatched world she's made with Zuko.

* * *

_A fragile thing. Such a fragile thing. So breakable. I own her. Yes, she's mine. I own her…_

Azula won't say that she misses Ty Lee because she doesn't _miss _her, really, more she wishes she were here so that she could insult her and make her feel terrible and maybe have sex with her after. She'd love that.

To bad. It's just to bad. To bad she's locked in her room and can't leave and to bad Ty Lee won't see her. Why the hell won't she see her?

There couldn't possibly be someone else, right? Ty Lee loves Azula, right? Yes, in the end she sided with that traitorous bitch, Mai, and yes Azula threw her in prison, but that doesn't mean anything, right? Right?!

No. No and uncertainty is bad. Azula is always certain, she's always sure of herself so Ty Lee must still love her. How can she not love her?

Azula is perfection. She is beautiful and strong and confident. She's the princess. Ty Lee is a weak little wraith of a person who desperately needs someone to lean on, someone to be her crutch, as she put it.

She can never walk on her own. She spent her life with no identity. She is an indefinite number from from one to seven, not a person. She _needs _Azula. Azula is her air and her heart beat. She is the Earth and the heavens and the spirit world. Azula is everything, so why hasn't she come?

Why doesn't she visit her? Why, why, why?

Azula screams and hurls anything she can get her hands on at the windows. She forgets momentarily that she's a firebender and can simply shatter the glass with a well aimed fireball. It feels nice to throw things, though. She imagines that she's throwing them at Ty Lee's face, at her mother's face.

She's needs out. _Now. _She'd been doing so well. The medicines they were giving her, the medicines that that bitchy peasant Katara prescribed to her, had been doing their job. They kept her complacent and quiet and almost _happy. _But during the hour or so before her next dose she has a brief respite of lucidity. She keeps it to herself, needing to hold onto her mind for at least a little while.

It's time, though. It must be time to leave. She needs to see Ty Lee, maybe to kiss her, or maybe to kill her. She isn't sure which yet, maybe both. Either way she is getting out _right now_.

"She's escaping!" she hears a voice call. Which Azula, of course, finds hilarious.

"No shit!" she cackles, propelling herself out of the window with her firebending. She hears a few more words from the orderlies

"How did her medicine fail?" and other worried mumbles of the like, and then she's gone. She doesn't know where Ty Lee is, but doesn't care. Either way she's going to find her, and then she's going to kill her in as creative and gruesome a way as her mind can cook up, but maybe she'll have sex with her first.

* * *

Sokka knew his face was a familiar one at the Cherry Blossom Pleasure House.

"Sokka!" a zealous girl by the name of Liang called.

"Liang, beautiful as ever," he replies. She shimmies up on top of the counter. "Who are you looking for?" she asks, tossing her short black hair and batting her gold eyes at him. She's fire nation, a colonial from Shiang-Wu. She moved to Ba Sing Se's lower ring shortly after the Fire Nation's occupation.

"You," he says with the cheesy, seductive slur he knows she likes. She giggles happily.

"Oh really? Little old me?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Well then, come on," she says, gesturing with a finger. He follows, already feeling the tension in his shoulders loosen and his cock growing pleasantly hard.

He follows her into her purple room, not red and pink like the other rooms, but a deep purple. He likes that for some reason.

She giggles again, high pitched and excited because she really does like Sokka. Greatly prefers him to the old, fat, perverts who can be found here at any given time. Sokka figures he's a much welcomed departure from that for Liang, what with his hero status and being best friends with the Avatar, and what not. Not to mention he's funny, young, handsome, smart, and throws a boomerang like a fucking pro.

"Oh, Sokka," she breathes into his ear as he runs his hands down her back. "I'm surprised you're single, you know." Sokka freezes for a moment at that, then promptly returns to stroking her back, not wanting her to notice the painful guilt plaguing his entire body.

"Yeah, well, you know," he says, and hoping to mask his lie further, he pushes her onto the bed and buries his face in her breasts.

Liang giggles again "You're so _perfect _though, Sokka. You would make the perfect boyfriend. If this wasn't my job, I would _totally _go out with you." Sokka laughs nervously in response and takes the rest of her clothes off, but he's distracted now. He thinks about Suki, of course.

Yes, he's been gone for a few months now, but that's still no reason to- well it's not cheating is it? He's not dating Liang or anything. Liang's just happens to be his favorite prostitute. He needs, well, sex. Any functioning nineteen year old male needs sex, right? And Suki's, you know, not here, so it's ok. When he gets back he'll never need to do this ever again.

Even as he tries to convince himself, though. Even as he thrusts his way into Liang and relishes the moan that escapes her lips and feels all the stress he's had bottled up inside dissipate with the warmth and softness of her body, he feels guilty.

"More, Sokka," she whispers, clinging onto his shoulders and dragging him closer. _Yes, he thinks, harder, more. The feeling will go away. _

He pushes harder and her back arcs, face a picture of pleasure. She had told him that she doesn't have to act for him, and he wants to believe it, but there is just something too perfect about it. The things she says and when she says them. The way she arcs her back and the way her face looks.

_It's not like this with Suki, _he thinks. With Suki there is groaning, and not the attractive kind. She twists up her face and her body doesn't move they way she really wants it to. She doesn't force anything. Everything that plays out is natural, real. Liang is too trained to be anything but fake.

He comes, nonetheless, moments later, but he comes with a distinct thought in his head: _I will never do this again. Next time and forever, will be with Suki..._

* * *

**Sup!**

As usual, thanks for reading! Comments please, I beg of you! Hoped you enjoyed the chapter, next chapter will (hopefully) be posted Friday, May 17, 2013. So look forward to fridays guys!

Much Love!


	3. Restraint

I don't care if it hurts/I wanna have control/I want a perfect body/I want a perfect soul

-Radiohead, _Creep_

* * *

"What?!" Aang yells.

"I'm sorry to say…it's true," Zuko sighs.

They're in Zuko's throne room, and Zuko's just told them that Azula escaped the palace late last night. Katara's not taking it well, she's mumbling something to herself. Mai is looking bored, but with a slightly fearful edge. Suki's pacing the floor, not doubt coming up with a plan to retrieve her. Ty Lee, though…Ty Lee's the worst off. She's been alternating between crying and complete silence, which for her is quite a cause for alarm.

"How did this happen?" Aang asks.

"It's my fault," Katara says quietly, and Aang realizes that that's what she's been mumbling all along.

"How is this your fault?" Aang demands in disbelief.

"I'm the one who prescribed her medication. I'm the doctor in charge of her. I'd insisted on it. I didn't want anyone to be to hard on her, you know? I was trying to help."

"I know, Katara, but sweetheart, it's not your fault."

"Yes it is!" she shouts, causing everyone in the room to flinch. "I should have took better care of her. I should of…now she's gone and who knows what she's going to do."

Ty Lee starts crying again and Mai goes over to comfort her, and it's a sweet gesture, despite the fact that Mai isn't all that great with sympathy.

"Katara, listen, Azula's crazy, but she's still smart and manipulative."

"Yeah, no kidding, and I underestimated her."

"You couldn't have known," Aang says, placing a hand on her shoulder before turning to Zuko and Suki "What should we do about her, she could end up causing all kinds of trouble."

"I know. I've already sent a preliminary search party out after her, but she appears to be long gone," Zuko says.

"And she appears to have gone on foot, which means she can't be that far yet, but she's also going to be a lot more difficult to track," Suki adds.

"Don't forget she can fly for short periods of time. She could be in the mountains and we might never find her," Mai says, which of course makes Ty Lee cry more. Mai _really_ doesn't get sympathy. "Shh, shh. Damn, I'm sorry Ty Lee. I didn't mean that."

"Yes you did," Ty Lee says, suddenly looking determined "We might never find her, but we have to try. I know what she's done, ok? And I know none of you are actually worried if she's ok or not, but I am. So we have to do something!"

Everyone falls silent. Aang had never seen Ty Lee get angry before, she always talked about how negative energy messes up your skin, and Aang couldn't help but agree, just a little. More than just skin though, negative energy and pessimism is never good for you, the monks had taught him that and he found Ty Lee to be very much like the female monks of the Western and Eastern Air Temples in that respect. But now she was obviously angry, but he wasn't sure with who, though. With them? With Azula? With herself?

"We do care, Ty Lee," Katara says, genuinely "Or at least I do. In fact, I'll find her myself if I have to, alright?" she places her hands on Ty Lee's shoulders and gives them a squeeze.

"Ok," she sighs "Thanks, Katara." Katara smiles in response and Aang is hit, for about the millionth time, with how much he loves her.

"Alright," Zuko says, "Let's split our resources then. Suki? You, Ty Lee, and the rest of the Kyoshi warriors head towards the Northwest. Katara and Aang? South. Mai and I will go East and check the islands. Shit, I wish Sokka were here, and Toph for that matter. They'd be a hell of a lot of help. Anyway, take as many soldiers as you need. We'll close the borders, no one leaves or enters the Fire Nation. I'm declaring a state of emergency."

"Seems a bit harsh, doesn't it?" Mai asks. "She's just one girl."

Zuko gives her a long-suffering look "Ever think that maybe there are those who will still follow her? Fire Nation citizens who want to continue the war? Azula is just the kind of crazy manipulative bitch who could rally the pro-war factions into into reigniting the war. We can't let that happen. We could be thrown into another world war before this one's really had a chance to end."

"We don't know if that's actually what she wants. Maybe she just wants freedom. She's insane after all, I seriously doubt she's planning to start another war," Mai counters.

"You're right, we don't know. Better safe than sorry, though."

"We'll be diverting a lot of resources to security rather than reconstruction. We'd be cutting ourselves off, you know that right?"

"It's temporary."

"What if we don't find her soon?"

"Then it won't be."

"So we'll halt all the progress being made by closing the Fire Nation's borders?"

"For now."

"What if it's not just for now? What if we don't find her?" Mai demands, agitation clear on her usually expressionless face.

"We won't see an attack coming until it comes. This is the best course of action," Zuko responds with thinly veiled frustration.

"You're taking this too seriously, Zuko. We don't want people to panic over one escaped mental patient. What will the Earth Kingdom think if we suddenly close our borders?"

"Who cares what the Earth Kingdom thinks?! This is the Fire Nation's problem."

"So we don't need Aang, Katara's and the Kyoshi's help?" Mai asks, sarcastically.

"Dammit, Mai! Why do you have to disagree with everything I say?"

"You need someone to tell you you're wrong, Zuko! You're not always right," she says as she stands, turns on her heal, and walks, not at all hurried, which must be infuriating for Zuko, out of the thrown room.

"Shit," Zuko mumbles.

"I agree with Mai, Zuko. At least to an extent," Aang tells him after a moment of awkward silence. He knows that part of Zuko's problem is with Mai and not her ideology. He could tell that he and Mai have the opposite problem as him and Katara. While they struggled to keep from having at each other, Mai and Zuko are growing apart and he would hate to see politics be the thing that breaks them up.

"Give us some time. Let us try to find her before this gets out. Two weeks, at most. If we don't find her by then we'll assume that she's has big plans in mind and consider her an international threat, but what if we find her tomorrow? What will closing the borders do, other than scare everyone?"

After not all that much thought, Zuko concedes "Ok. Two weeks. That's it."

"Thanks, Zuko."

They all get up to leave, but Aang stays behind. "Zuko?"

"What?"

"I feel like I can say this now. We've been friends for a long time and I know you really well. Plus, I'm getting married soon, so I think I might know what I'm talking about."

"Spit it out, Aang,"

Aang sighs "Just…don't let this feud with Mai get in the way of your decision making."

"What? We're not feuding."

"Yeah, you are. There's nothing wrong with acknowledging that she's right, Zuko. Just think about that."

He leaves before Zuko can come up with a suitable response.

* * *

A plan. Azula needs to come up with a plan. She was always good at it before, when she had Mai and Ty Lee under her control, but- no they're gone. They left her. She's alone. She so alone. It will be ok though. She'll have her revenge. She'll kill that bitch Ty Lee, and maybe Mai, too. Yes, Mai too. Mai started this. Maybe she should kill Zuko, too. It's his fault as much as Mai's, but no, no she'll let him watch. Let him watch her kill his precious Mai.

Azula is holed up in a cave, spirits know where. trying to plot her revenge when it hits: she'll go to Ty Lee's house. Ty Lee, who has parents and more importantly, sisters who look exactly like her. That could be fun. That _would _be fun. All she has to do is take them hostage, send good old ZuZu a letter stating that Ty Lee come to home, _alone, _if she ever wants to see her family alive again.

That will get their attention. It's an offer she can't refuse, and then Azula will make her suffer. But first she needs to head forTy Lee's humble little house. Then she'll have her fun. Then she'll have her revenge…

* * *

Ty Lee's heart is breaking. Why couldn't Azula simply stay were she was, safe and sound? Ty Lee took solace in knowing that Azula was happy, if you can call it that. No, content is more appropriate, but still. True, Ty Lee had never gone to see her, and maybe she should of. Oh, spirits, maybe this is her fault. If she had gone to visit her than maybe she wouldn't have run away, or maybe she's just thinking too highly of herself. Maybe it made no difference to Azula and maybe this wasn't about her so why does she have such a bad feeling?

"Ty Lee?" she hears Yuko through her thoughts, spirits she's beens so distracted lately. She's standing outside in the palace courtyard waiting for the other warriors and trying to get her aura back to pink, failing, but trying.

"Yeah?"

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just want to find her before anything happens to her…or anyone else," she added as an afterthought.

"I know. You…really love her, don't you?" That catches Ty Lee off guard. She had no idea that Yuko, or anyone else, knew about her messed up relationship with Azula.

"I…ahh…"

"It's ok. I know."

"I'm just…" and then Ty Lee does something she's been doing a lot lately. She bursts into tears. Yuko puts her arms around Ty Lee.

"I'm so sorry."

"I want to stop, Yuko."

"Stop what," she asks, pulling away to look at her face.

"I want to stop loving her. All she did was hurt me and she's still hurting me. I want to stop loving her, but I can't."

"Real love shouldn't hurt, Ty Lee."

"I know," she whispers.

"Let's go find her."

"What if we don't? What if we can't find her?" she asks, a sob threatening to escape her throat.

"We will, Ty Lee. I promise." And something about the certainty in her voice, in her eyes, makes Ty Lee wholeheartedly believe it. It feels wrong _not _to believe it.

"Ok," she whispers.

The other Kyoshi warriors join them in the courtyard.

"Let's go, ladies," Suki says. Ty Lee holds her head a little higher and marches purposefully with the other warriors.

She almost doesn't notice Yuko slip her hand into hers and give it a reassuring squeeze.

"We'll find her," she declares again. Ty Lee looks into her pretty green eyes.

"Thank you, Yuko," she says, squeezing her hand back.

* * *

**Oh, spirits...**

So, I wholeheartedly apologize for the lack of actual story progression in this chapter, really I do. I'm starting to get a real feel for where I'm actually going with this, which is good, and what I want to go down is going to require some setup. Well...here's all the setup. I promise, the next chapter will actually have something going on in it. You know, things like the manhunt for Azula, Katara's guilt over letting her escape, and finally a section from Mai's point of view! Woohoo! So, yeah. Also, fingers crossed, the next chapter might even be over 2000 words! Woah! I'm notorious for writing short ass chapters so sorry about that. But hey, the first chapter was, like, 4000 fucking words! That's a new record for me. Anyway, I'm done rambling. Next chapter'll be out next friday at the latest (maybe even before?) we'll see. As always thanks for reading, and please, please, please review. Hate it, love it, whatever, just review!

Love y'all!


	4. The Chase

Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both.

-Patrick Ness, _A Monster Calls_

* * *

Mai sits beside Zuko in the tank. She glances at his profile, the side without the scar. _He's so handsome, _she thinks, _but so distant. _These last few months have been especially difficult and she wants to be there for Zuko, she really does, but he's making it so difficult for her. Every time she tries to get close to him he pushes her away. She honestly doesn't know what to do. She doesn't know what he wants from her, but she fully intends to find out. Even if they are in a tank hunting down the most dangerous woman she has ever had the misfortune of meeting.

"Zuko?" she asks, tentatively placing her hand over his.

"What?" he snaps. She pulls her hand back and takes a few deep breaths to keep her face and voice neutral.

"I was just thinking that, since we have time, maybe we should talk or whatever," she says, trying to sound bored and nonchalant as always.

"Talk about what?" he says tersely.

"You know, things. Us."

"What about us?" he asks and he looks almost…guilty? He _should_ feel guilty. He's been neglecting her, yelling at her, pushing her away, he should feel very guilty.

"Well, we've been, you know, drifting apart lately. I just want you to know that I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you." He looks away, looking even guiltier.

"You have always been here for me," he says quietly. Good at least he knows it. She places her hand on his again and gives it a squeeze.

"I miss you, Zuko. I know things a pretty crazy right now. We're chasing your crazy dangerous sister who's planing to do spirits know what, and I know we don't exactly see eye to eye sometimes, but Zuko, you can't always rely on your own judgment. I can have good ideas, too, not just you, or even Aang because you listen to him. If I'm destined to be your Fire Lady, then maybe you should think about, you know, listening to me too now and then?" Zuko glances at her.

"You're right. I'm so sorry, Mai."

"It's alright," she says, satisfied with what seems to be a very heartfelt apology "We're in this together, Zuko. I will always fight by your side, no matter what the battle is." Zuko smiles at her and it looks a bit forced, but maybe she's just seeing things. Zuko had never really been one to smile.

She herself smiles at the memory of his twelve year old face, always brooding and pouting. Without the scar. She doesn't really know when she had decided she loved Zuko, but it was sometime when they were young. Her, Ty Lee, Zuko, and Azula, spirits, she misses the way things used to be. The way they would play together and talk about things that didn't weigh so heavy on their shoulders.

Then Zuko was banished. She didn't see the Agni Kai, but it wasn't long before she had heard what had happened. She'd burst into tears without being able to stop herself and her mother had slapped her.

"You mustn't do that, Mai. He's a traitor, don't cry for him. A lady shouldn't cry like this at all, it's indecent," she'd said.

"No!" Mai had screamed. "No, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong! You don't know him! He's not a traitor. He's not!" Her mother hit her again.

"Stop that, Mai," she'd said, barely maintaining her own calm "Stop it right now. Don't think of him. Don't speak of him. I don't want to hear anything else about him, do you understand?" Mai had stopped crying abruptly.

"Yes, I understand. I'm sorry, mother," she'd said in monotone.

"Good," her mother had said, the she glided out of the room gracefully, lady like. Mai'd sat down on her bed, tucking her knees underneath her chin. _Yes, it would be better if I just forgot him, _she'd thought _but I don't think I will. _She had glared at the door. _I'll never forget him, no matter what you say, mother. I'll jump through all you're hoops, but this is one thing I'll never do. _She had smiled triumphantly at her small act of defiance.

She glances at Zuko now "I never stopped thinking about you, you know. Not once. I never looked at anyone else. Ha, my dad was starting to panic when I turned down every suitor he put in front of me. He started saying 'What if she's one of those _homosexuals?' _I ignored him, of course, because I couldn't tell him the truth. My heart belonged to someone else and I wasn't about to forget that. Nobody understood it, but I always did."

Zuko looks down at her. "I love you, Mai," he says "I really, really do love you," why does it sound like an apology?

"I love you, too, but…Zuko is there something else wrong?" she asks.

"No," he says, bending his head to kiss her lips "No, nothing's wrong."

* * *

Azula reaches Ty Lee's house. It's quaint situated on a hill, and not another house for miles. _Perfect. _And just when Azula is beginning to think it couldn't get anymore perfect, she hears voices from inside the house.

"It's too bad Ty Lee can't be here," says a voice that sounds exactly like Ty Lee's.

"She's busy with work in the capital," a woman who, now peering through the window, Azula guesses is Ty Lee's mother. _She looks exactly like an older version of Ty Lee, _she thinks, _darker hair, though._

"I admit, I was worried when she went off and joined the circus," a bearded, overly jovial, fat pig of a man who could be none other than Ty Lee's father, says. His hair is lighter. "But, I'm so proud of what she's doing for our country now, let's toast to Ty Lee, who we're so proud of, but couldn't be here to celebrate you're birthdays with us."

"Here, here!" They all yell in annoying unison. Azula finds her teeth on edge as she listens to the trivial conversations play out in the house, but what she finds most disturbing, of course, are her sister's resemblance to her. They are all like copies of Ty Lee, with minor differences, and she simply can't wait to have her fun, and what luck! All of them are gathered here together at once. What luck.

She waits until they've all finished their meal of hardy roast duck, dumplings, and Lychee nut pudding before proudly announcing her arrival. She climbs through the window.

"Hello, all!" she yells, now standing before the family who's gaping at her in horror. "I know it's rude to just barge in like this but, I'm a friend of Ty Lee's and I wanted to wish her a very happy birthday."

"She- she- she's not here," the father says, shaking. Azula imagines what she must look like at the moment. Certainly not as put together as she'd like to, wearing her white hospital pants and shirt, and, well it's been a while since she's showered or combed her hair. Plus, she had a rather long length of rope around her shoulder.

"Oh? Really? That's terrible. Well do you know when she'll be back?" she asks with fake sweetness.

"N-no. I'm s-sorry,"

"Oh, that's too bad. Well, hey! I have an idea!" she sends a jet of flames over the families head. Lighting the pictures on the back wall on fire. Ty Lee's family screams in terror and Azula revels in the screams of her sisters that sound like her own little choir of Ty Lee's.

"I'll just tie you all up now and send a little letter to Ty Lee. I'm sure she'll hurry along if she know's how uncomfortable you'll all be."

"P-please…" the fat pig starts, but Azula sends another fireball towards them. "Shut up, pig," she cries angrily. "Walk out of here, all of you."

They don't move. "Now!" she yells, spitting fire. They scurry out like pathetic little ant-beetles. Azula grabs some chairs from the dinning room table and flings them out the door after them. Once outside with the chairs, Azula blasts the house again and again until it's ingulf in flames.

The Ty Lee's are crying as well as their parents and Azula laughs. "You're all just as pathetic as Ty Lee. Now, sit." They obey. She ties them to the chairs one by one starting with the fat pig.

She stops at the last one, the one who looks most like Ty Lee. She even wears her hair the same way.

"What's your name?" Azula asks her.

"Fei Yen," she says, trembling.

"You're beautiful, Fei Yen," she says, then grabs her by the neck, cutting off her airflow, and pressing her lips against her. She hears the collective gasps of shock from the rest of the family and smiles against the girls lips until Fei Yen sinks her teeth into Azula's lip.

"Ow! That hurt you little bitch!" she says, then slaps her across the face. She contemplates burning her, but then she wouldn't be as beautiful, so she thinks better of it.

"When I said 'friend'?" Azula says, dragging out her words as she wipes her lips "I really meant lover you know." They stare in shock and Azula laughs again. "Yes, that's right. You're precious little Ty Lee loves me. Sad isn't it? Sad that I defiled her. Sad that she loves another woman. Sad that she still does!" Azula turns around, paces a few steps, then turns back "She loves me! She'll always love me! Always! I'm perfect, she has to love me!" she rages, then says calmly "What's your name pig?"

"J-Jun," he says.

"Jun? What an ugly name for an ugly pig. Where's your messenger hawk?"

"I-In the sh-shed,"

Azula walks quickly over to him and punches him in the face. "Stop stuttering you stupid beast!" Then she walks over to the shed pulls out some parchment and scratches a very simple letter to be sent to the Fire Lord immediately.

_ZuZu, I have Ty Lee's family. Send her alone, or she'll never see them alive again. I'm coming for Mai next. Are you ready ZuZu?_

She sends the hawk to the capital and marches over to her new friends.

"So, what shall we do now?"

* * *

"Yip, Yip, Appa!" Aang calls.

Katara and Aang take to the skies, not flying very high, trying to get a glimpse of the run away princess.

"This is all my fault," Katara says for the millionth time. She knows she's been saying it over and over again, and everyone keeps telling her that it's not, but they don't understand.

"Katara," Aang sighs.

"No, Aang! You don't understand," she says "I was her doctor. I did her medical and mental exams. I prescribed her medication. I recommended her treatments. I was personally responsible for her well being and I honestly thought I was doing the right thing."

"You were, sweetheart," Aang tells her.

"No, apparently, I wasn't," she practically yells "I wanted to go easy on Azula. When I started treating her, all she did was cry for her mother, and then Mai and then Ty Lee. She just cried and cried and she was really pathetic. I talked to her and I realize she actually has some really deep rooted issues. She believes her mother never loved her and she was betrayed by her best friends. She was left with only her psychotic father to look up to. Honestly, it's not her fault she's the way that she is…or at least it's not all her fault. I let her stay in her room because I thought she'd be more comfortable there. I took off the restraint jacket, I lowered the dose of her medication. I thought she was getting better.

"Maybe she was, Katara," Aang says soothingly.

"No! She was using me! She was pretending she was getting better so that I would let my guard down. I shouldn't have been fooled."

"Katara, stop. This isn't your fault, ok? She got out, but we'll find her. Something tells me that Mai is right and Azula's agenda isn't some grand sceme to take over the world. We'll find her and it will all be ok, alright?"

Katara nods, but she doesn't agree. She let her feeling get in the way. When Azula was first locked up, she hated her. She hated this monster who had attacked the people she loves, but then she'd started to cry "Mommy, mommy! I'm so sorry, mommy!"

"Mommy?" Katara knew from Zuko that their mother was dead, but she never heard Azula speak of her.

"I'm so sorry, forgive me Mommy!" Katara had walked over to Azula's cell. She'd begun to feel bad for her despite herself. It had something to do with knowing the pain of losing a mother.

"I'm sure you mother forgives you," she had told Azula.

"No! No, she hates me. I'm bad. I'm a bad, bad girl."

"Your mother couldn't have hated you. Mothers never hate their children," Azula had pondered this.

"Not even me?" she'd asked.

"Not even you, Azula," Katara had answered softly. From then on she served as Azula's doctor. She spoke to her, told her her mother _did _love her. She fed her and made sure she took her medicines. She made sure she wasn't bored or uncomfortable. She nurtured her, like a mother would.

"You're so kind to me, Katara. You're kinder than my mommy was."

"Don't say that, I'm sure your mother was very kind."

"Oh, she was. To Zuko. She didn't care about me, but, you care about me right?"

"Yes, I do Azula."

"Thank you, Katara.

_Stupid. Stupid little sappy bitch, _Katara thinks to herself. _So motherly, just like everyone always says. _Now though, her "child", as it were, is on the lose and Katara has to get her back. _If Ty Lee doesn't get her first, _she thinks, smiling. _We'll find her, Ty Lee. Everything will be ok…_

* * *

**No, Katara, it most certainly won't be ok.**

Firstly, a special thanks to Mrs. Shikamaru Nara, theretrogamer224, Sablefalls, and Serbia for the compliments! And thank you to LiveLoveLaughkataang and all the others who have been bugging me to update! I love it you guys, it lets me know that you wanna read this! So we got some insight into Mai's issues, that's good, right? We got some scary ass Azula action and you had all better start worrying about Ty Lee's family, you'll be getting more of them. We also got some interesting Katara and Azula stuff too. Katara's motherly, Azula has mommy issues...I thought it worked. So, anyway, next chapter? Lets see...well Zuko's going to do something _bad, _Sokka's coming back, and Ty Lee has to prepare to face Azula _alone. _So, yeah. Next friday? Let's hope so.

Thanks again everyone, keep faving, following, and **REVIEWING!** I have so much love for you!

Bye!


	5. Falling

I remember brown eyes,

So sad and blue skies.  
Turned to darkness and night.  
I'm so sick of the fight.

I won't breathe unless you breathe,  
Won't bleed unless you bleed.  
Won't be unless you be,  
'Till I'm gone and I can sleep.

-Hollywood Undead, _Circles_

* * *

_Her hands were wrapped around her arms too tightly and she swung her around too quickly. She felt a dull thud as her head hit the wall. Her lips tasted sweet, but bitter too, like berries. _

_Ty Lee felt weak, helpless. Azula was in control. She was always in control. Ty Lee was stripped out of her clothes, bared and naked, still pressed against the wall. It was cold against her spine and she shivered. _

_"So, pretty…" she felt more than heard Azula whisper against her neck. She trailed her lips on Ty Lee's bare skin, eliciting more shivering, but not from the cold of the wall that continued to press against her back._

_Azula tugged her roughly by the arm and shoved her onto the bed. Perched above her she caressed her cheek with her hand, gently. _

_Ty Lee wasn't the smartest girl in the world, but she hoped that anyone would be confused by Azula's abrupt shifts between gentle and rough. Maybe it wasn't only her._

_Azula slipped out of her robe, and her bare skin glowed blue in her fire's light. Her hair tumbled in black waves down her shoulders and back and her lips were smudged red, the majority of her lipstick now adorning Ty Lee's skin._

_She put her hand on Ty Lee's neck, not squeezing really, just resting it there. It was such an owning gesture. It told Ty Lee that she did not belong to herself, but to Azula. She wanted to hate that, wanted to demand that she be given to ownership of her own body back, but then Azula would not be here on top of her and her warm hand would not be on her neck and her other warm hand would not be gently caressing her breast. Her lips would not be smudging lipstick on her body and there would be no hot, breathy whispers in the air. She wanted these things, so she stayed still and pretty, the way Azula wanted her to be. Still and pretty._

_Ty Lee canted her hips involuntarily when Azula pressed her body in closer. It was hot and she could feel her self sweating and panting slightly. Azula's other hand wrapped around her neck as well and she gripped it tighter as she moved her body over Ty Lee's, creating an unbearable friction._

_Ty Lee arched her back and wrapped her arms and legs around Azula, moaning softly and turning her head from side to side. The friction was maddening._

_"Oh, Azula." Azula, for once, looked winded and she groaned a little. Her lipstick was mostly gone now and their was only a faint pink tinge around her mouth._

_Ty Lee knew Azula didn't love her, but she felt a feeling from her that was similar to love and Ty Lee was elated. Her parents loved her, but not really her. They loved all of their daughters equally and together, like a set. They didn't really love all of them individually, there was no time for that. Ty Lee wasn't a person in their eyes, just another part of the set. _

_Azula saw her as a prized possession. She and she alone belonged to Azula. She was her private treasured property. One of a kind. This made her happy. This made it alright for her to give herself to Azula. Azula was cruel and manipulative, but sometimes she was gentle, so Ty Lee didn't mind belonging to her. She could learn from her. She could learn to be unique and special like her. _

_"Ah…" Ty Lee moaned again. Their fevered clawing and thrusting and moaning increased it's pitch._

_"Ty Lee…" Azula moaned "You're mine."_

_"I'm yours…"_

* * *

"Wait!" Suki calls "Hold on everyone. A messager hawk."Ty Lee looks up. They'd been traveling for less then a day. Asking everyone they came across if they'd seen the runaway princess. No one had.

After a brief read Suki looks up, right at Ty Lee.

"We have to return to the palace immediately."

"Why?" Ty Lee asks.

"It doesn't say, but it says it's urgent. It also says that the Fire Lord needs to speak to you personally." All of the Kyoshi warriors are looking at Ty Lee. Usually she likes the attention, but right now it just makes her uncomfortable.

"Ok?"

They all mount their eel-hounds. Ty Lee looks around at the other warriors a moment longer, her gaze meeting Yuko's. Yuko offers her a confused smile.

"Ok," Ty Lee says again. They take off, heading full speed back towards the capital.

Three hours later they arrive at the gates of the palace and are greeted by the Fire Lord himself.

They dismount and bow. Ty Lee says "You wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes," he says. Ty Lee notes that he looks more grim than usual and thinks, dully, that he's going to end up with some nasty frown lines if he's not careful.

"Suki? You should come too," he says over his shoulder, already heading towards the palace.

They follow him towards the thrown room. He doesn't sit, he just turns and says "I've received a letter from Azula. I know where she is."

Ty Lee's shocked. She didn't think Azula wanted to be found. She never even entertained the notion that she would send a letter to them, announcing her location.

Zuko handed her the letter and Ty Lee read over it quickly, once, then again, then again, but the words don't make any sense.

"What?" she asks, dazed.

"I know," Zuko says, taking the letter from her, gently, then handing it to Suki.

"What?" she repeats.

"I know this is hard, Ty Lee. What do you want to do?"

"I…have to go. I have to go save my family, right?" Suki finishes the letter and looks up, first at Zuko, then at Ty Lee.

"We can't just let her go alone!" Suki cries.

"No!" Ty Lee practically screeches. "I have to! Oh, spirits, she'll kill my family if I don't!"

"It's too dangerous. Now we know what she wants. She obviously wants revenge. You betrayed her at the Boiling Rock. Even after all these years she's still holding a grudge."

"Exactly! So if you go and send some really big army after her she'll kill my family as her revenge! She will. She said to send me alone."

"But if you go," Suki says, "She'll kill you, or she'll kill your family right in front of you and then she'll kill you."

"I have to try. Maybe…maybe I'll convince her to let my family go, then…then she'll just kill me. Maybe…maybe she'll even let me live, too," this comes out very unconvincing, even to Ty Lee's ears.

"What?! You can't do that, Ty Lee!" Suki yells.

"Yes, I can," Ty Lee says. Her lip's trembling, but she tilts her chin up a little higher. "I know what all you you think of me," she says. "You think I'm weak. You think little Ty Lee can't take care of herself. She's a crybaby, a circus freak, a ditzy little nobody, but you know what? I am all those things. I am, but I'm not the kind of crybaby, circus freak, ditzy little nobody who lets her family die because of her. I _will _stop Azula, whatever it takes."

She looks both Suki and Zuko in the eyes. "Let me go," she says, knowing that she will go either way.

"Ok," Zuko says.

"What?" Suki demands.

"She's going to go anyway," Zuko says, seeing it in her eyes. "Why stop her? But," he says, looking Ty Lee in the eyes "I will send backup. At the first sign of danger I'll order then to…to attack Azula." He swallows and Ty Lee can see that this is actually a hard thing for him to do. Yes, he hates Azula, but she's still his sister and his practically ordering her execution.

"Ok," Ty Lee says, and then she places a hand on his shoulder, conveying her thanks before walking out of the thrown room to prepare for perhaps the most important event of her life.

* * *

Ty Lee's family is terrified. Obviously this young woman is not in her right mind and they fear that she may be capable of nearly anything. She alternates between pacing nervously and muttering to herself, screaming at no one in particular, and trying to maintain polite conversation. She was doing the last at the moment.

"So, Mei Lien, right?" Mei Lien starts. She looks, perhaps, the least like Ty Lee with short hair and a much thinner frame.

"Good, good, I'm right. So…" she points to Jun first and works her way down the line "Jun and Feng, then…Mei Lien, Jia Li, Yao Niang, Ching Lan, Fei Yen, and of course Ty Lee, right?" None of them dare to breath, but apparently that's the wrong choice.

"Right?!" Azula yells, spitting fire. They all nod and quickly mutter yeses.

"Great! I'm glad. Funny, all of your names have two parts, I bet they can be a bit confusing?"

Feng looks guilty. All of their names were her ideas, and she couldn't even keep them all straight in her mind. She sometimes calls Ty Lee, Fei Lee and Yao Lan, and Jia Li is often Jia Yen, and Mei Lien is often Mei Li. Hui Fang becomes Hui Lan and Chiang Lan becomes Chiang Niang. She tries, she really does, but she just couldn't always remember who was who and what was what. Each of them had another who resembled them in some way. Fei Yen and Ty Lee always looked the most similar. They wore their hair the same way and often wore the same types of clothes, and though Ty Lee had always tried to be different, had always wanted to become her own person, she was closest to Fei Yen. Jia Li and Yao Niang were both a bit heavier, Mei Lien and Hui Fang a bit slimmer. Hui Fang and Chiang Lan more muscular. Some were quieter and some were musical, some liked Jasmine tea and some didn't. Some loved the beach, some hated it. Feng tries, she really does. She loves all of her daughters and they are all unique and tells them that as often as possible. Even more often after Ty Lee left.

Ty Lee is the only one who misunderstood. She took her mother's inability to remember their names as an insult. She hated the fact that there were other girls who looked and acted so much like her, especially Fei Yen. She wanted to be different, so she left, and look what's happened because of it. She knows she shouldn't blame Ty Lee for their predicament, but she can't understand how Ty Lee could fall in love with this woman, unless she is lying of course. Maybe Azula loves Ty Lee, but Ty Lee does't feel the same way. Feng hopes to the spirits that that's the case, and she hopes to the spirits that someone, not Ty Lee, but someone will come and stop Azula before…before something bad happens…

"Yes," Feng says "Sometimes it does get a bit confusing."

* * *

"Why the hell did you let her go?" Suki asks.

"She would've gone anyway," Zuko replies.

"You could have stopped her!"

"Sure."

"Why didn't you!?" Suki turns and puts her hands on Zuko's chest, stopping him. "Do you even care what happens to her?" she asks in a fierce whisper.

Zuko expects to feel his anger flare at that, but it doesn't. He's just sad. Sad that Ty Lee may be going to face her doom. Sad that this might finally be the end of his sister. Sad that, even if Ty Lee does make it out of this alive, others may not be so lucky. Sad that Suki would accuse him of not caring.

"Of course I care," he says, quietly, with no venom at all. Suki notices that and her face softens.

"I know. I'm sorry, I just worry about Ty Lee. I worry that she won't be able to handle this."

"This is her fight," Zuko says, wearily. "We've all had difficult battles and we've all come out of them stronger than when we went in. Ty Lee _will_ do the same," he puts as much conviction into the statement as possible, but the truth is, he feels hollowed out.

He's tired. He wants to sleep, but not to dream, even a little. He wants to open his eyes in the morning and find that everything is fine, the way it's suppose to be. Azula in her room, safe and sound. Ty Lee bubbly, obnoxious, but loyal. Aang and Katara hopelessly in love. He sort of wishes Toph were here to punch him in the shoulder. The only thing he doesn't miss is Sokka. Not because he doesn't like Sokka, because after their mission to the Boiling Rock, back in the good old days, Zuko realized that he really likes Sokka. The problem is he _really _likes his girlfriend.

He's gotten word that Sokka is on his way now and he can't help but look at Suki now and think that this is the end. It's the end of their messed up, perfect world. It's back to Mai for now and forever. It's time for him to forget those looks and those moments with Suki that he's spent so much effort trying to preserve in his mind forever, because he won't be getting those looks or those moments anymore. His stomach twists a bit at the thought of losing those things, and his face twists a little at the thought of Sokka getting them.

"Zuko?" Suki asks, gently placing a hand on his arm. They're at his door now and he didn't even notice, was too lost in thoughts about past moments with Suki to even enjoy the few present ones he has left. He feels bad about that, feels as if he's wasting the time they have left together.

"I'm sorry," he says. Suki must sense that the apology is deeper than just failing to notice their location.

"For what?" she asks.

"For…" _Good question. For what?_ Why is he _really _apologizing? Is it because he's wasting precious moments of their limited time together, or is it even more than that? Is he saying sorry for loving her? Is he sorry for not having done more? Or for doing too much? He wishes he knew the answer.

"I don't know," he answers, truthfully.

"Me either," she says. Zuko doesn't answer her. He just stares at her face and tries to burn it into his mind. He doesn't want to forget it, ever. He wishes he had a painting of her, one he could look at whenever he felt like. It might make it hurt less. Or more. He isn't sure.

"Goodbye, Zuko," she says. Then she stands on her toes and kisses Zuko on the lips.

"Goodbye," she says again and kisses him again and he kisses back, wrapping one arm around her waist while the other fumbles with the door handle. They stumble in, not letting go of each other, afraid of breaking whatever has been made here. Zuko locks the door behind them.

He knows what's happening, about to happen, what he wants to happen. He knows it's wrong and he should stop this before what's about to happen, what they want to happen, what's happening, happens, but it feels inevitable like some unstoppable flood that's been beating on the dam for months. It was bound to break. It's broken and here comes that tidal wave they should want to avoid, but really don't.

Zuko smudges her face paint as he traces the planes of her face with his fingers as if he can press every crease and rise into them. She starts to untie her armor, a painfully tedious process that's making the seconds grow longer and longer. It's that moment before the tidal wave hits, when time slows down and you actually have to time to reflect on your life and all that shit. He wants to cut the shit out though, because, given time to think, he might realize that he would actually prefer to get to higher ground. But, finally, holy fuck, finally she's out of it and she's untying his robes before he even knows what's happening.

Time has sped up again, like it does the very instant before the crash. It's too late now and he'll happily drown.

The next minutes fly by like seconds, and Zuko thinks that time's a fickle son of a bitch. When he wants it to hurry along it slows down and when he wants the moment to stretch out, on and on for fucking forever it blows right past you. That's what happens now.

He doesn't remember how he got out of his clothes or how she gets out of hers, but she's naked, on top of him and beautiful as hell. She's got makeup smudged all over her face and her hair is messed up, sticking up in all directions, probably from when he (did he?) pulled her head dress off. She kissing him like she can't breath without him.

Her thigh digs into his cock as she kisses him almost viciously. He knows she feels it too, this…race for time. The end is drawing nearer and their world, their beautiful fragile world that wasn't meant to be, is crashing down all around, but by the spirits it was going to go down with one hell of a bang. They were going to tear it down, every last piece themselves, not let it tumble noiselessly out of existence. What they built is wrong, so they'll tear it down. It won't fall, it'll be crushed.

"Suki," he whispers into her neck. She groans in response, obviously losing patience, and all but shoves him into herself. Zuko moans and she hisses into his ear, already thrusting back and forth.

It's intense, to say the least, and Zuko almost wishes it weren't happening because Mai is never intense. Never so eager or so hungry like this, and he knows he's going to spend the rest of his life wishing he could do this with Suki, one more time. No. This is the only time. Right now. Their destroying their world and they can't build it again, this has to be it, so he flips Suki on her back, getting a better angle, and fucks her like it's his last because it is.

"Ah! Oh, spirits!" She yells. She's loud an it turns him on. Mai is quiet for the most part, and it takes to utmost effort on his part to get her to moan, even a little.

He grabs her breasts and leans forward to kiss her and she tangles her hands in his hair and claws at him desperately. _Just a little closer._

She breaks away from the kiss, tossing her head back and moaning loudly, trying to breath. Zuko can feel the hot puffs of her breath on his neck. He trails his lips along her cheek, her neck and her collar bone, bending her slighting to let his tongue just barely caress her nipple.

"No!" she yells, pulling him back as he leaves her breast. "Don't stop that," she grits through her teeth.

Zuko manages to smile at her through his sex induced haze and complies with her command. He feels like he's going to come but he really, really doesn't want to, not just yet.

He tangles his hands in the bedsheets near her head and pulls himself in and out of her faster and harder.

"Yes, yes, yes…" she starts moaning. He can hear that slight squelching sound with each thrust as she gets wetter and hotter and louder.

"Yes, Yes…"

He slides in and out even quicker now, precum and her own juices making it slippery, reducing the friction, but increasing the speed.

"Yes, oh yes…"

He leans down again to suck on her neck and tries so hard not to come. _Make this last a little longer._

"Ah…ah…Zuko! Please!" _Please what? Fuck you harder? Stop? Go? Love you? Stop loving you?_ He doesn't know and she doesn't either.

_A little longer, a little longer, a lit-_

"Zuko!" Suki's back arches and Zuko feels her body quake beneath him and it's enough. She clenches her legs around him tighter, clenches everything around him tighter and it's so enough.

"Fuck!" he groans and shoots his load inside of her before he can even pull out.

"Ah…ah…ah…" Suki's still moaning, twitching slightly. "Zuko…" she moans.

"Suki…"

"Goodbye," she says.

* * *

**So...**

This was probably my favorite chapter so far to write. I liked writing all of Zuko's inner dialogue and shit and getting a little more into Ty Lee's world. It was fun. I'm sorry about the Ty Lee/Azula sex scene. I realize it was a little...watered down. The truth is, being a girl who likes dicks (a little too much) I haven't actually had the pleasure of writing a lesbian sex scene before. I've done straight, obviously, and I've actually done gay (strange considering...well that's the only kind of sex I'll never be able to actually get in on sob) so this was a new experience and I honestly didn't know what I was doing. Hopefully it wasn't to bad (thoughts? PLEASE!?). So...next chapter? Umm...I'm actually not sure. I guess you'll get the afterthoughts on the events of_ that _night from Suki's perspective. That should be cool, right? And we didn't see Aang or Katara at all this chapter so maybe I'll squeeze them in, but they have some issues that will transpire a bit later in the story (because there actually is a story arc here, guys. If you can believe it.) Ty Lee's got to face Azula, but I might drag it out a bit. Oh, Sokka! That's right. Sokka's coming back, so...Sokka. Yeah.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble, I'm just the tiniest bit stuck right now. I knew everything that was going to happen in this chapter and I know what happens later, but I'm not sure whether later is now, or later, y'know? That didn't make any sense at all. Anyway, REVIEW PLZZZZ! I need feedback even if all your doing is telling me to update! Still!

Finally, I'll say bye.


	6. Crashing and Burning

They say the captain  
Goes down with the ship  
So, when the world ends  
Will God go down with it?

- Fall Out Boy, _What a Catch, Donnie_

* * *

Sokka's close enough to see the shore from the boat now and he feels his stomach twist in on itself. He's going to see Suki again very soon and he's already trying to figure out the best way to break the news to her. He's never been the best lier because he's the kind of guy who wears his heart on his sleeve. He manages to fool people occasionally, but they're usually strangers and it's usually for the greater good, so it's ok. Lying to Suki, however, is a different matter entirely. He's never successfully lied to her in his life.

There was this one time when Sokka told Suki he was going to the market get some things, but when he came back to his home on Kyoshi island, not only did he come back without the groceries, but without the money as well. He made up some elaborate lie about being jumped by bandits who stole all of his money, but Suki obviously didn't buy. In the end he was forced to tell her he had spent all the money she'd given him, plus all the money he'd been saving, on a new sword.

Suki didn't talk to him for a week after that, and when she did, she made Sokka promise to never lie to her again and he had promised.

_This is worse than the sword thing, though, _Sokka thinks as the Fire Nation mainland grows larger. No, he promised he wouldn't lie no matter what happened, but he has the distinct feeling in his gut that he's going to throw up if he tells her. Then again, he might throw up if he doesn't tell her, so it's a lose, lose either way. Oh, spirits, this might be it, she might finally dump his ass.

As if on cue, his stomach heaves at the thought, but he manages to successfully keep his breakfast down.

"Shit," he mumbles "I might throw up before I even get there."

"Twenty minutes until we reach the mainland," a voice announces.

_Shit, shit, shit, shit and shit. _Sokka picks up his things. _Just tell her. You have to be honest. "Suki, listen, I made a mistake while I was in Ba Sing Se. I was lonely and…well…horny, and I may have…uh…slept with some prostitutes. Or, not some, but one in particular…on many separate occasions. So, yeah, don't kill me please and more importantly, don't dump me."_

Sokka smacks himself on the forehead for perhaps the hundredth time today. _Yeah, right dumbass. She'll totally forgive you if you tell her like that._

Sokka groans and smacks his head, repeatedly.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid and stupid._

* * *

Katara wanders into the room looking dazed.

"Are you alright, sweetheart?" Aang asks, concerned. Katara squints as if she can't see him.

"Oh, uh, yeah," she mumbles. Aang's brow creases with worry and he motions her over to him. She walks slowly over to the bed and sits down next to him, but she doesn't seem to actually be there at all. Her eyes are vacant and the way she's sitting makes her look like she's uncomfortable in her own body.

"What's wrong?" Aang whispers, putting his arms around her. She doesn't respond to his touch, which really worries him.

"Ty Lee is going to die and it's all my fault," she says without emotion.

"What?! What are you talking about?" Katara turns her face towards him but doesn't actually look at him, then turns her lack of attention towards her hands.

"Zuko received a message from Azula. She demands that Ty Lee go to her alone or she'll kill Ty Lee's family."

"Zuko's won't really let her go alone, right?" Aang asks, soothingly, knowing that even Zuko wouldn't put Ty Lee in harms way like that.

"He's sending back up, but it doesn't matter."

"What do you mean? If he's sending back up then she'll be fine." Katara's face darkens with something like anger, or more accurately the idea of anger, but not actual anger.

"Ty Lee won't call them in, and they can't be close enough to help her at a moment's notice."

"Huh?"Aang's face furrows in confusion. Katara finally looks something like her old self as she shakes her head, smiling slightly.

"You don't get it?" Aang shakes his head. "Ty Lee wants to take Azula down alone. She doesn't want anyone's help, even at the cost of her own life. She feels, just as I do, that this is her fault, and now her family's lives are on the line. She won't signal for back up and if she doesn't signal, they won't know to come because they'll be too far off. They don't want to do anything to alert Azula to their presence. Ty Lee is supposed to signal with a mirror if she needs help and they'll be able to see that, but she won't do it."

Aang gets it now. In all honesty, he gets where both Katara and Ty Lee are coming from. He remembers when he felt like he had to face the Fire Lord alone. He felt that everything was his fault, and therefore, his responsibility to fix it. He had truly felt the weight of the world upon his shoulders and was horrified at the thought of sharing the burden with anyone else. It would've been a disgrace upon his honor if he did. Katara had managed to convince him that he was wrong and that the people who love you are not only willing, but eager to share in your burdens. He now feels that their roles have been switched. That he now has the task of convincing Katara of the same thing, except now that's been taken out of their hands hasn't it? His and Katara's? Now the world is on Ty Lee's shoulders and Katara doesn't much like the feeling of Ty Lee taking on that burden. She still blames herself.

"Ty Lee is strong. She'll be fine," Aang says, trying to convince both Katara and himself. He really hopes he's right. He's actually come to like Ty Lee very much. She would have made an amazing airbender and he feels a pang of sadness knowing that she'll never get a chance to meet the airbenders.

He gets a thought then. Maybe the airbenders, or more specifically their culture doesn't have to die. He's still around, so the airbenders are still alive, in essence. Maybe he could teach people, people like Ty Lee, their ways and keep airbending alive that way. Of course he could also have a bunch of kids and hope that they're airbenders.

He looks over at Katara, but thankfully she's not looking at him, otherwise she would've notice the blush that now covers his entire head. _It's true though isn't it? _he thinks seriously. _I'm the last airbender, isn't it technically my sole duty to keep airbending alive? And doesn't that naturally entail…well…babies?_

He turns even redder as his thoughts take their natural turn to the…making of babies. _Why the hell am I thinking about this? _he wonders, having completely forgotten how his mind got on the topic in the first place. _Oh right, Ty Lee is like an airbender._

"I've always thought that Ty Lee would make an excellent airbender," Aang says aloud, bringing his mind back to the situation at hand.

"Why do you say that?" Katara asks, seeming only mildly interested in what Aang is saying.

"She's so positive and actually kind of spiritual. She's…airy, and I mean that in a good way. She's an optimist and she tries to go with the flow. 'Be the leaf, float on the wind.' It's something that the airbenders teach…used to teach. She embraces that teaching, but she also has another strength and that's why I think she'll be ok.

"What's that?" Katara asks, looking genuinely interested now.

"She loves. Her heart is so full of love. She loves her family and she wants to protect them, so she _will,_ no matter what."

"Exactly," Katara says, returning to her downcast state "She'll do anything to protect them. Even at the cost of her own life. If she dies it's my fault."

"Katara-" but Katara isn't listening anymore, she's already on her way out of the room.

* * *

Suki wakes up pressed against something warm and soft and breathing. It takes her a few moments to realize that the something is Zuko. The thoughts of last night come flooding in and she sits up abruptly, unable to breath properly. She rakes her hands through her hair over and over again, trying to grasp onto to something real and not _this. _

She gulps at the air for a few seconds more before she starts crying. _Ah, fuck. Stop it. STOP. IT. _She berates herself for being so weak and fragile. _I just had sex with him, that's all. Calm the fuck down, _but she can't calm the fuck down because she's freaking the fuck out. She honestly can't believe she has this little resolve. She never, ever thought of herself as the kind of girl who would cheat. In fact she talks constantly about how low girls are who cheat. _Slut, bitch, fucking cock hungry whore. Is that who you are now? _She almost laughs to herself. She's spent all her life feeling morally superior to nearly everyone she's ever encountered, save maybe Aang, because even Katara's stop being that innocent little girl she was four years ago.

Katara's told her all about her issues with Aang. How he still hasn't had sex with her and how much she desperately wants him to. Suki tried not to be judgmental but she still felt that Katara was being a bit pathetic. Oh, the great Suki would _never _feel that way. Oh, the great Suki doesn't _need _sex to feel complete. She doesn't _need _Sokka or Zuko. She loves them, she loves being with them and she loves having sex with them, but she doesn't _need _it. No, no, no, not the great morally superior Suki.

Look at her now. She's just like everyone else. Everyone else in the world who has ever made a mistake. Everyone else in the world who's been in love with two people. Look at her now that she's just another tragic cliche. Turns out she's not so perfect after all, then. She's just another hopeless girl.

She buries her head in her arms and tries to comfort herself, make herself believe that it's alright and her morality is intact, but it makes her feel more pathetic. _What have I done? _She looks over at Zuko, still sleeping, a slight smile on his face and wonders if when he wakes he'll want to tear last night out of him, too. Does she really though? If she could turn back the clock, stop the tidal wave, save them both, would she? Would she want to forget? She cries harder at the realization that, no, she would not want to forget. She can't change the way she feels about Zuko. Can't change the fact that she loves the way they don't fit together. He burned down her village, people could have died, why doesn't she hate him? Why? It would be so easy and yet, and yet, and yet….

She wipes the snot and tears off of her her face and takes a deep breath, trying to draw some of that confidence back into herself.

_Never again. Never ever again. _She gets up and gets dressed, quietly, not wanting to wake Zuko. She'd already said goodbye anyway, he knows. She heads for the door and takes one last look at him.

His hair hides his scar and she can almost pretend that it isn't there, though she's not sure she wants to. His breathing is even and his face is the most perfect picture ever painted of contentment. She almost goes back. Almost strips naked and gets back under the covers, but she knows that Sokka is on his way, maybe already here and he can never, ever find out. She's not going to tell him. Once she walks out this door last night never happened. She'll go back to being the great, morally superior Suki.

She walks out the door and shuts it quietly behind her.

* * *

**I'm sorry...**

I am so sorry, people. One, for being totally late. The last week of school was super stressful and I didn't get any writing done at all. I'll try not to be late again, promise. Two, this chapter had zero plot in it. I know, I know, I know. It was a whole bunch of angsty reflection and shit. I just don't want to rush too much. I'm already a bit of a rusher, what with my short chapters and all, but I want to drag this out a little more. Sure, I know that I'm not even half way done with this thing yet (yep that's right, what you think is the end is only the beginning, bum bum BUM!) but still, it goes by really fast. So next chapter, you'll be getting the big confrontation (GASP!) That will be exciting. So...yeah. Anyway, let me know if you hated this chapter (because I sure did) and follow and favorite and REVIEW PLZZZZZ and all that shit. I LOVE U!

Yeah...bye.


	7. Ashes

Insanity is relative. It depends on who has who locked in what cage.

- Ray Bradbury

* * *

Ty Lee fidgets in her seat, beginning to feel even more claustrophobic.

"Are we almost there?" she asks, for what is perhaps the hundredth time.

"Yes, we'll be there soon," says Huang, taking his eyes away from the scope which will surely result in…the tank hits a nasty bump.

"Huang!" an angry voice calls.

"Sorry," Huang answers, sheepishly.

"I'm sorry," Ty Lee apologizes, smiling "I promise I'll stop asking." Huang smiles a slightly awkward smile at her and goes back to the scope. Her own smile fades, but she still feels slightly comforted by Huang's slightly socially awkward presence. He has actually been more than accommodating, given the circumstances.

"Don't worry about it, I know you must be nervous," he says. Ty Lee notes, not for the first time, that Huang is quite attractive, adorable is the word she'd use to describe him, and more importantly, he's really nice and seems like he might be interested in her. He's constantly making sure that she is ok, looking away from the scope and then, of course, he fails to spot something detrimental to the tank's progress, like a large rock or a ditch, and his older brother, Sheng, the one driving the tank, yells at him to be more focused. Huang will blush and mumble some apology and go back to the scope. For a while, at least.

Ty Lee finds _all_ of this strangely comforting. Even Sheng, who's about as cuddly as a boarcupine is comforting in his own way. Like Huang, he's very serious about his job, and he's promised to keep Ty Lee safe not matter what it took.

"We're here to make sure that nothing happens to you, and nothing will, alright?" he'd said with Huang bobbing his head furiously in agreement.

"I understand. Thank you," Ty Lee had mumbled. He'd nodded once and they were off.

At first Ty Lee had wished that the tank would slow down. She wasn't ready yet. She had wanted to scream from the top of her lungs that she wasn't ready yet, but a few hours later she wanted to scream again, but this time begging to go faster, begging to get there already before she loses her nerve. She has had decidedly too much time alone with her thoughts and they were wearing away at her determination.

She'd forced gruesome images of her family murdered, defiled, mutilated into her mind to boost her resolve, to make her want to hurt Azula back, to win, but it only made her sick in her stomach and in her head. She is well aware of what Azula is capable of and what she may have already done, and yet she knows that she won't be able to kill her. Just the thought of doing so makes her feel as if there is a massive hand inside of her, just barely squeezing, merely preparing to rip out everything inside of her. She won't be able to do it. The hand will win.

She wishes she could just give the order, have all the soldiers she's been required to have as back up do her work for her, but she can't even do that. It would kill her to do that, so what should she do? She can't kill Azula herself, she can't have Azula killed, and she can't have her family die, so what does she do?

"We'll be there in two minutes," Huang says, breaking into her morbid thoughts, "Are you ready?" _Am I ready? Am I? No, no, no I'm not. I'm not ready. Help me, please. Spirits, help me._

"No," she says "But, yes, I am." Huang nods as if that's somehow a satisfactory answer.

"Ok…Ty Lee?" Ty Lee looks up at him. "Please, just…be careful, alright?" Ty Lee stares at him and feels a sudden, nearly unexplainable wave of anger. She has to take a deep breath and think hard to figure out what has caused it and she soon realizes what it is. Life could be so fucking easy for her. She's beautiful and strong and maybe a bit on the ditzy side, but she likes to think that she's funny and smart enough to get by. She has a loving family, even though sometimes she doesn't think so, she knows that they love her. She's got great friends and absolutely everything going for her and she continues to throw it away. She could marry some wealthy governor or something. Some handsome, wealthy governor or -she keeps staring at Huang- maybe a solider. A nice handsome solider named Huang and live in a nice house on Ember Island and have two, maybe three kids. Maybe the third on the way. She can see Huang, or someone like him, building a sand castle with a little girl and a slightly older boy and she's standing there. For some reason she can see herself standing there, feet in the ocean, a hand over her swollen belly, smiling at the three of them and their sand castle. The boy waves her over and she ventures closer, bending down as much as her stomach will allow and examines their handy work. She tells them how beautiful it is and kisses the little girl on the head.

The picture freezes there. A happy mother with two beautiful children, a third on the way, an attentive, handsome, successful husband. She could have all of this. All of this could be real so easily, but the picture blurs and then burns and is gone in an instant. She's left feeling empty and staring at Huang.

"I will be," she tells him, oblivious to the awkward seconds that had passed before her answer "Thank you." He nods slowly, looking at her with a pained expression, almost as if her can see the ashes.

"We're here," he says. Ty Lee nearly jumps out of her skin at the words. She knew they would be said eventually, but enough time couldn't have past yet. Enough time could never pass.

Ty Lee swallows the heart that has risen into her throat in order the say "Thank you," to Huang and Sheng.

"We'll be here. If you need help just tilt the mirror so that it catches the sunlight. We'll see it and come as fast as we can," Sheng says.

Ty Lee wasn't really listening, but she hopes that another "Thank you," is in fact the correct response, and it seems to be because Sheng nods and says, "Off you go then."

Ty Lee takes one last look at Huang, trying to see that perfect dream life that will never happen, but all she sees is ashes, but…Yuko's face is there somehow.

Yuko smiling. Yuko lauging. Yuko worrying. She isn't a handsome governor or solider, but she's lovely and kind and wonderful.

A new picture finds its way out of the ashes. One of Yuko and Ty Lee on the beach, old and wrinkled and no longer beautiful, but the ocean is beautiful and so are the years. They hold hands and watch the sunset and then they die sometime soon together and are buried side by side near the beach.

A tear escapes Ty Lee's eye as she steps out of the tank and begins to walk steadily towards whatever is waiting for her.

* * *

Azula snaps her head around when she hears a gasp ring out collectively from her new _friends._

"What?" she demands, swinging her head wildly from side to side "What are you all looking at?" She sees it, _her, _the instant after she's finished the question. Ty Lee in her hideous Kyoshi warrior outfit is walking slowly through the front courtyard towards them.

When she is within earshot Azula hears her ask "What have you done to my house?" Azula laughs. She finds the question highly inappropriate given the situation. She expected Ty Lee too appear dramatically on a nearby hill top, raise a sword in the air and shout "Let my family go!" with her hair out and blowing in the wind and some other such shit. She did not expect her to just wander in quietly and mumble "What have you done to my house?" It's so anticlimactic.

"What does it look like, _sweetheart_?" she spits the word out like it's something foul and Ty Lee winces visibly. _Good, be afraid._

"It looks like you burned it down," she says "It's just ashes now."

"That's right! Just like you're family is about to be right now!" Azula shrieks.

"Why?" Ty Lee asks. Azula finds herself confused by the question.

"What do you mean _why_?"

"Why are you doing this Azula?"

"You know damn well why I'm doing this!"

"No, Azula. I don't." Azula looks back at Ty Lee's family. They're all just sitting pretty, listening, looking just like Ty Lee. It makes her skin crawl.

"Revenge," Azula says, rolling every letter on her tongue. It tastes so very good.

"Revenge?" Ty Lee repeats "For what exactly? You know I've never been that smart, Azula."

"You. Betrayed. Me," Azula says, punctuating the words, drilling them into Ty Lee's thick, traitorous little skull. "You helped that bitch Mai instead of me. You betrayed me! You were mine. Mine, mine, mine! But you…but you…" Azula starts sobbing between her words. "You chose her. How could you?! Were you sleeping with her too? Huh, you fucking slut?"

"No, Azula," Ty Lee says. Her voice sounds dead in Azula's ears. "I took her side because she was right and you were wrong."

"What?!"

"I was done, Azula. I couldn't stand by and watch you kill Mai and I couldn't blame Mai for wanting to save Zuko."

"You…you…how could you? You bitch! You love me."

"No. I don't, not anymore. I loved you. I love the memory of you. I love the impossible thing that I thought you were, but now I understand. You're broken, like me. I always relied on you for strength, but your strength wasn't even real. It was just a mask, Azula. I loved the mask. I don't love you."

"No. NO. NO! **NO!"**Azula screams. It's not true. None of this is true. Azula _is _perfect. She's not broken. It's wrong. Ty Lee is wrong and she needs to die now. She's needs to die and then maybe the wrongness will finally go away.

"No, no, no, no!" Azula wants to rip her skin off her bones. There's something under her skin that's hurting her, has always been hurting her, but more so now.

"No, no, no, no, no, no…" _Mommy loves you. Mommy loves you. Mommy hates you. She hates you because you're a monster._

"Stop…" Azula pleads with herself. _Mommy loves Zuko. Mommy loves Zuko, so Zuko has to die._

"Stop it!" _Please…Katara is mommy. Mommy should die too. Mommy should die. Katara has to die._

"Make is fucking stop!" _Mai is a traitor. Mai loves you. Mai hates you because you're a monster. Just like Mommy. Mai has to die._

_Mai has to die._

_Zuko has to die._

_Katara has to die._

_Ty Lee has to die._

No.

_No not yet. They can't die yet because if they're dead they can't hurt. They have to hurt. How should I make them all hurt? I'll make them all hurt. Then I won't hurt anymore, right mommy? I won't hurt anymore. I'll make them hurt. Right? Isn't that right mommy? Isn't it? Or maybe..._

"I want to hurt you," she whispers. "I _want_ to…"

The next few seconds pass by very slowly, so slowly Azula can feel each movement as it's own, separate entity. She turns on her heel and separates the negative and positive energy, then brings them crashing back together with as much force as she has ever mustered, creating a bolt of lightning so powerful the thunder can be heard miles away. She leaves nothing to chance. She won't let her walk away from this. She levels her two fingers at the girl with brown hair in a braid, big brown eyes, big, obnoxious boobs, that loud, cheerful voice and that soft perfect skin. She burns a hole straight through her. Her skin isn't so perfect anymore.

There is a scream. Many screams and they fill the air with an eerie ringing quality as they all scream in unison, but in different pitches.

It sends shivers down her spine. It's good. _Very _good.

"Goodbye, Ty Lee," she says before propelling herself off and in some unknown direction. It really doesn't matter where she's going. She just needs to go somewhere and relish this feeling and then… and then she's going to figure out how best to get this fix again.

* * *

On the ground, flat on her face, eyes wide open, lies a dead girl. She didn't suffer. Her heart stopped instantly.

On the ground, on her knees, eyes wide open, there is a girl. She suffered. Her heart beats endlessly and the sound of each pound is like a mallet in her ears.

Fei Yen and Ty Lee are on the ground, eyes wide open. You almost can't tell one from the other. The only thing that separates Fei Yen from Ty Lee is that the former is dead and the later is alive.

Azula is gone and has taken with her an addiction to revenge.

Ty Lee's heart beats endlessly and she can't make out anything in the ashes.

* * *

**Woah...**

Kinda late, but not really, right? Sorry about that. This chapter went through about a billion rewrites before I was at least somewhat satisfied. I would really, REALLY, appreciate feedback on this one! It was hard! So some bad news...I'm going out of town and my computer is shitting me right now so I'm just not gonna bring it, so I probably won't get any writing done until I get back. In other words the next chapter will hopefully come out not next friday, but the friday after that. So in two weeks. But that's ok because this is a pretty good mid-season break spot, if you will. Yeah. I'm thinking next chapter will have, like, Aang and Katara's wedding? Yeah, probably. That's the main thing. As you can see, Azula's vendetta has grown quite considerably, so you better start getting nervous now. Lols. Anyways, thanks for reading and another special thank you to Mrs. Shikamaru Nara and theretrogamer224 for being such loyal and helpful reviewers! You guys rock and I love you! Thank you to everyone else who has been reviewing too! I really appreciate everyone who's reading this fic!

I love you all very much! Keep faving, following, and reviewing, for me. Or not. Whatever. As long as you're reading this, I love you either way! Haha. Will miss you!

See y'all soon!


	8. This is it

I like you better in any weather  
When you're not trying, it's so inviting  
I don't deserve you, I can't afford you  
Unless you're timeless

- Under the Influence of Giants, _Meaningless Love_

* * *

"Sokka." He hears a voice just as he's hoisting his bag over his shoulder. He turns around and she's standing there without her her make up or her uniform.

"Suki!" Sokka practically squeals as he bounds toward his girlfriend, which is so not manly. He lowers his voice a notch as he reaches her before saying "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too," Suki says, giving him a quick hug and then pulling away to look at her feet as they toe patterns into the dirt.

"Are you ok?" he asks nervously. _Oh spirits, she's upset and I haven't even told her yet. Does she know? How could she?_

"Yeah, I'm fine," she says, looking up and trying to sound cheerful, but Sokka detects how false it is. "I'm just…worried about Ty Lee," she adds.

"Ty Lee? Why are you worried about her?" he asks.

Suki smiles somberly "I'll tell you on the way."

She walks him to her quarters in what everyone has begun calling "Kyoshi Hall." She fills Sokka in on everything that has happened with Ty Lee and Azula. There's no emotion in her words. She may as well be reciting a particularly boring recipe for a particularly boring dish.

"Oh. Wow. How is she doing?" Sokka asks, heart aching for Ty Lee. She's such a cheerful, sweet girl. He could imagine something like this messing her up bad.

"I'm not sure," Suki says "I think Yuko's the only one she's been willing to talk to."

"Yuko? Who's Yuko?"

"Ty Lee's sort of girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? _Girl_friend?" Sokka flounders.

"Mmm-hmm. Girlfriend. Sort of."

"But…but Ty Lee totally had a crush on me!"

"Really?" Suki asks incredulously.

"Yeah, you didn't know that?"

She smiles wryly "No. I don't think she felt it necessary to tell her commanding officer that she had a crush on her boyfriend."

"Oh. Well, good point."

"Hmm. Maybe she swings both ways," Suki mumbles.

"Anyway," Sokka says loudly, suddenly growing uncomfortable discussing Ty Lee's sexuality "Are you sure that's all?"

"What do you mean?" Suki asks as they reach to door to her room.

"I mean, are you sure that's all that's wrong."

"Yeah, that's it Sokka," she says, a bit to quickly.

"Alright." Sokka figures she'll tell him what else is wrong when she feels like it, because he _knows_ something else is wrong. Then again, maybe she won't after he's told her what happened in Ba Sing Se. She might never tell him anything ever again. _Oh shit, I'm going to throw up._

"So this is where you guys have been staying?" Sokka inquires innocently, failing to keep the crack out of his voice as Suki pulls out her key. Talking _usually _helps him work up some courage. In fact, talking in general just makes him feel better. It's not working now, though.

"Yeah."

"Do all the Kyoshi warriors stay here?"

"Yeah." Sokka looks at her sideways. He's trying to keep the conversation going and usually he's great at maintaining a conversation with minimal effort on the other person's part, but she's really giving him nothing. He stops talking and starts sweating. _I'm going to fucking throw up._

Suki opens the door to her room. Sokka takes a cursory look around. Taking in not much more than the fact that there is a bed at the center of the room, expertly made with military precision, that most of the room is green and blue and that there are weapons all around that could potentially cause him bodily harm.

He forces the bile down and says, sounding much more frightened than he really wants to, "Suki, can we talk?"

Suki looks at him with a face that almost seems startled. "Ok," she says, going to sit on the bed. He notices that she's the only mismatched thing in the room. She's wearing red and gold, Firenation colors in this very not Firenation room. That coupled with the way she's sitting, rigid back, hands folded in her lap, makes her look incredibly awkward and Sokka has to wonder why, but he shakes his head, convincing himself he's reading too much into everything just to distract himself from the task at hand.

He goes to stand before her, then thinks better of it, not liking the feeling of talking down to her, and sits beside her on the bed. "I, uh, have a confession to make."

Suki's eyes seem to snap impossibly wider at the words. She says "Ok, what's that?" almost eagerly.

"When I was in Ba Sing Se…I…" he takes a deep breath. _You need to come clean Sokka. That's the only way to handle this. _"I cheated on you, Suki," he sighs. "Nothing serious. She was…a prostitute. I was lonely and I thought I needed, you know…companionship." _Companionship? Whatever, fuck it. _"I felt terrible about it, though. I couldn't believe I did that. It was stupid and wrong and I swear, I will never, ever do it again, Suki, and I hope you'll give me the chance to prove that to you," he finishes. _Good. That was pretty good. Maybe she won't kill me._

He waits and then…her lips are on his and he is more surprised than he would be if Suki _had_ decided to kill him. He expected tears and yelling and accusing and pain, but she's _kissing _him after he'd just told her he'd cheated on her.

She pulls away "You'll never do it again?" she asks. Sokka shakes his head, face slack, mouth hanging open in complete shock.

Suki sighs "Ok. I believe you."

"You do?"

"Yes."

"You're not mad? You're not going to yank out my eyeballs and choke me with them?"

Suki laughs "No. I'm not. People make mistakes, Sokka. I understand that. I know I'm really hard on you sometimes. I know I make it seem like every little mistake is the end of the world but…no one's perfect and being away from you for so long made me realize that I can't freak out over every little thing because...I love you, Sokka." She leans in and kisses him again and this time he kisses her back hungrily. He's so thankful that he didn't throw up and she didn't kill him and they're ok. He didn't think it would work out so well.

Clothes start coming off and somewhere in the back of his mind, well hidden behind the fog of sex that is descending on him, he thinks that it was just too easy, but he's not about to question it, lest he finds out exactly why this was just too easy. He honestly rather not know.

* * *

Zuko is Aang's best man, much to Sokka's dismay, and Zuko figures that Aang and Sokka are going to be having a very uncomfortable, and not to mention loud, conversation tomorrow. Zuko was already receiving some serious death glares from him and he had at first assumed that somehow Sokka had found out about his affair with Suki. Suki had assured him that this was not, in fact, the case.

Zuko tried to work out why Aang had chosen him over Sokka, but to no avail. "Aang, you do know that I tried to kill you and everything, right?" Zuko asks. Aang nods, his arms are spread wide as a dowdy woman with glasses who's name Zuko can't remember helps Aang into his white wedding attire.

"Yeah, I know."

"So, uh, I'm just wondering why you chose me to be your best man."

Aang cranes his neck around to look at Zuko. "Zuko, that was years ago."

"I know, but…Sokka never tried to kill you," Zuko points out lamely.

"So, you don't want to be my best man?" Aang asks, raising an eyebrow.

"No, no I do! I mean, I'm just wondering why you chose me over Sokka, you know?"

"Hmm. Well, Sokka's been gone awhile and everything and I wasn't sure he'd be back in time for the wedding. And I just…well I thought you'd make a great best man."

Zuko is surprisingly touched by Aang's honesty. To this day, Zuko still cannot believe how far the two of them have come. They've gone for bitter enemies to best friends. He himself has gone from banished and disgraced prince to beloved Firelord. Aang has - he smiles at his friend as he tugs at his collar nervously and swipes his hand over his head repeatedly, as if he has hair to smooth - Aang has gone from goofy little airbender, to fully realized Avatar and now he's about to be married to the woman he loves.

"How far we've come," Zuko says, quietly.

Aang looks back at him again and smiles anxiously "Well said, pal, well said."

They grow quiet. Aang retreats somewhere into his thoughts, no doubt trying to quell his growing nerves. Zuko looks in his direction, but not really at him. He's occupied with his own thoughts.

He keeps thinking about how Aang is a full four years younger than he is and yet he's getting married first, and yes he does seem pretty nervous about it, but that anxious, ecstatic grin has yet to leave his face even once today. He's happy and he's sure about what he wants. He wants to marry Katara and that's all there is to it. It's simple and easy and Zuko feels a pang of jealousy looking at the young Avatar standing there waiting to be happily married. He wants to ask him if he's as happy and sure as he looks, but pride seems to be preventing it. How naive will it make the twenty, nearly twenty-one year old prince look to ask his sixteen year old friend for marriage advice. Pretty naive.

"What are you thinking about?" Aang asks, now fully dressed and standing before him.

"Nothing," Zuko mumbles.

"Bullshit," Aang replies. Zuko looks up at him, startled. Aang doesn't curse, _ever. _Aang sees the look and chuckles. "Yeah, yeah," he says rolling his eyes "I know. One day I just decided "fuck it." I'm not even sure what "it" is, but whatever, fuck it anyway. So what's up?"

Zuko takes a few seconds to regain his composure after hearing Aang use the word "fuck" not once, but twice in one sentence. "Nothing's up."

"Bull_shit," _Aang repeats as he sits beside Zuko. "Talk."

Zuko sighs and decides to take the opportunity to tell Aang what's on his mind, pride aside. "I'm just thinking about the fact that you're getting married before me."

Aang hums in his throat "_Yeah…_that's a little awkward," he says with a sideways grin. "Don't worry about that though. When you were my age your were hunting me to the ends of the Earth. I don't really think you had time for, you know, marriage."

"Yeah…"

"Plus, the war. The war is over now and now is the time to start thinking about it. It just so happens that I'm younger than you."

"Yeah…"

Aang rolls his eyes yet again "Ok, what else is wrong?"

"Nothing."

Aang pins him with a that conveys his feelings as clearly as if he had shouted "bullshit."

Zuko huffs another sigh "I wish I had it easy."

Aang looks puzzled. "Easy?"

"You're so sure about this. It was love at first sight for you. You don't have any doubts, do you?"

"Nope," Aang doesn't even take the time to ponder this.

"Exactly. I'm…not as sure as you."

Aang nods knowingly "You're not in love with Mai." It's not a question.

"I don't know," Zuko answers, truthfully. "Sometimes I am and sometimes I'm not."

"That's not good enough," Aang says, confirming what Zuko already felt.

"I know."

Aang nods. The woman whose name Zuko can't remember comes in and says "It's time." Aang nods to her and straightens his clothes, looking nervous again and very young.

"How do I look?"

Zuko smiles at him "You look great, Aang. This is it."

Aang smiles wide "This is it. Yeah."

* * *

"I can't believe you're making me wear this," Toph grumbles as Katara enters the room.

"Wow, Toph. You look beautiful," Katara says, going over to her.

"I do?" Toph asks uncertainly.

"Definitely," Katara answers. Toph is all made up with dark eyeliner, pink lipstick, blush, everything. Her hair in up in an elaborate bun and her dress is a simple green grown that looks gorgeous on her. For some reason, this makes Katara nearly burst into tears. Then again, just about everything has made her want to burst into tears today, and she has a couple of times. She's so grateful Toph made the trip here just to be her maid of honor. It means a lot to Katara.

Despite their differences, Katara wouldn't want it to be anyone else, and Toph actually seemed quite touched by the offer.

"Of course I'll be coming to you and twinkle toes' wedding, but are you sure you want _me _to be the maid of honor?" She'd asked gesturing to herself and the dirt that covered her.

"Absolutely," Katara told her, and that was months ago. She wasn't sure she would be here, but here she is, all dressed up and _clean _for the wedding.

"Thanks. I'm sure you look beautiful too, Katara," Toph says fixing her eyes in her direction and smiling.

"You certainly do," a voice says from behind them.

"Hi Dad."

Hakoda brushes across his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Dad? Are you crying?" Katara asks, giggling a little.

"No. No, of course not. I've just got something in my eye, dear."

Katara smiles at her dad and takes his arm in hers. "This is it," she says with a deep breath.

"Oh, spirits, it is. I…"

"I'll see you out there, sugar queen," Toph interrupts, no doubt detecting the father, daughter moment that's about to ensue and making her exit.

Katara turns back to her dad. "What?"

Hakoda's smile turns sad "I only wish your mother were here to see you on your wedding day. She would…well she would boast. '_My _daughter is marrying the Avatar.'"

Katara laughs "So you think she would've liked Aang?"

"She would have loved him. How could she not? He had my vote minute one. Heh, when you were younger your mother and I would fantasize about what it would be like meeting the man in your life. I was the difficult one. He's got to be this and he's got to be that and your mother would laugh and tell me that whoever you chose would be great. She trusted your judgement, even then. She always expected you to gravitate towards the best and, well, it seems as though you did."

"Yes. I guess I did. I wish she were here right now."

"Me too, Katara," Hakoda says, kissing his daughter on the head "Me too." He shakes his head "You look just like her."

Katara looks down at herself in her long white robes. Her hair is elaborately done with ornaments and white flowers.

Hakoda takes a deep breath as the music begins. Aang managed to get the Flameos to play. "Well, I guess it's time."

Katara nods, swallows, and stands a little straighter as she takes the first step out onto the walkway that leads her to her husband to be. She concentrates on not tripping over her long white robes and tries to look something other than nervous, but probably doesn't succeed.

Hakoda pats her hand and she glances at him. The tears that were in his eyes are on his cheeks and his smile holds so much pent up emotion. Katara can see how happy he is for her. How sad he is to see her so grown up. How much he misses his own wife. She can practically see the memories of his own wedding playing out behind his eyes.

They reach the end of the walk and Hakoda gives Katara a heavy hug.

"This is it," he whispers. Katara nods and untangles herself from him, offers one final smile and climbs the steps bringing her eye to eye, or rather, eye to chin, because Aang has grown taller than her in the last few months, with her groom.

She stands there, realizes she's grinning like an idiot, but doesn't care. Can't hear a word that's being said. Doesn't know where they are in the ceremony until it's time for them to drink their marriage complete. She doesn't taste what's in the cup and nearly spills it because she wouldn't even take her eyes off of Aang for long enough to glance at the cup. She's vaguely aware that people start clapping and of her friends and family surrounding them. And then Aang is kissing her. She's aware of that. The whole wedding past her by in a pleasant haze, the only thing in focus was Aang. Her _husband, _Aang.

Everything is distant. Azula's escape might have never happened. Maybe nothing has ever happened to her until now. She thinks to herself that maybe this is what being born feels like. Or maybe this is what dying feels like. Either way, happiness is such a weak adjective.

* * *

He didn't expect it to be quite like this. He had had it all planned out in his mind. After all the congratulations and deserts and a couple of angry looks from Sokka, they would retire to their suite. Everyone already knew what happened after that. Toph had slapped him on the ass and yelled "Get it in, Twinkle Toes!"

They would go to the bedroom. He then expected to sweep her off her feet and carry her to the bed and look at her in the moonlight that spilled through the open window. There would be a slow and tender kiss and an exchange of "I love you's."

The rest of the night would be like that. Slow, tender, and romantic. At least, that's how he'd planned it.

He didn't expected all the shoving as the entered the room and that Katara would drag him bodily to the bed. He didn't expect her to climb on top of him and jam her tongue into his mouth before he could even get the "I," out. He figures they won't be doing much talking tonight.

His plans mean nothing at all because now he knows that none of this is going to be slow, tender, or particularly romantic. There's going to be shoving and groaning and biting and- fuck it.

He grabs Katara by the hair, pulling her in closer. His hands feel as though they're trying to be everywhere all at once and can't seem to decide on a place to settle, and why the hell do these wedding robes have to be so fucking elaborate?

Katara gets tangled in them and laughs. "Fuck. Why do these things have to be so fucking elaborate!"

Aang laughs too "That's what I was thinking!" They're both giggling as Aang yanks off her layers one by one and Katara struggles with his. It's like the most wonderful wrestling match ever.

Finally, Katara peels out of her underwear, panting and cursing at the clothes and Aang's hands get even more confused. His eyes become quite occupied with her breasts but his hands desperately claw down to her ass.

"Oh, fuck," he says, disbelievingly. This is more than he thought it would be. How can someone's body be so endlessly fascinating? How could he feel that if he were to stare at it forever, he still wouldn't be able to take it all in? His hands were trying, but it just isn't possible.

His eyes nearly pop out of his head when Katara's hand closes around his dick.

"Shit," he groans. He gets only an "Mmm," in response.

Katara strokes her hand down his cock, which doesn't really need any stroking at all, it sure as hell isn't going to get any harder, and Aang continues his battle with his hands.

"Aang!" Katara nearly shouts as his hands decide, without the full knowledge of the rest of his body, to just go for the goods. He gives her an "Mmm," in response.

She's sweaty and panting. It's a hot summer night in the Firenation and the smell of her makes his eyes roll back in his head.

She presses her body in and grinds her hips against him and he bites his lip and warns his cock not to come. _Get it in, Twinkle Toes._

"Ugn…Aang!" Katara, mercifully, takes her hand off of his cock and digs her fingers into Aang's shoulders, looking him straight in the eye.

Breathing heavy, she says "Don't keep me waiting anymore."

Aang can't speak so he nods his compliance. He flips her over because he knows he wants to do it like this and he suspects she does too. She puts her hands on his shoulders and they just stare at each other for a moment that seems suspended out of time. The moment becomes a tangible thing and he swears he can feel everything inside of her head.

Then it's over and he pushing himself into her. She yelps a little as he enters her and then says through her teeth "Don't stop for anything," before he can asks if she's ok. He looks at her for a brief moment before he keeps going, a bit slower this time. His hands are on her waist and he can feel her abdomen tighten up. "Sorry," she says "That's probably not helping." He feels her noticeable relax and finds it easier to go deeper. Her hands dig painfully into his shoulders, definitely leaving marks, and she struggles hard not the make a sound.

He wants to ask her if she's alright, but she's made it clear that she doesn't want him to stop, so he doesn't. He pushes until it's all the way in, wincing when he feels something tear, and she gasps.

"Oh spirits, Aang. I…" she looks at him with the heaviest expression Aang has ever seen. "I love you so much.

"I love you too," he breaths.

He starts out slow and keeps the pace until the pained expression begins to leave Katara's face. Her breathing grows steadily heavier and she arches her back into it, making a humming noise in her throat.

Aang directs the vast majority of his attention into not coming. He braces his hands on the headboard and watches Katara's face. Her quiet mumbling growing more insistent by the second.

"It's ok, Aang," she whispers horsely "You can go faster now."

"I might not last very long if I go any faster," Aang grits. Katara smiles and tosses her head back, grabbing Aang by the ass and almost dragging him in and out of her.

"Ahh…Katara…fuck…"

"Mmm…ah…Aang. Finally."

_Yeah. Finally. The girl of my dreams, the woman I love, as close to me as humanly possible. Finally. This is it._

"Aang, Aang, Aang…"

He lets himself be goaded faster, wrapping his arms around her body and using it as leverage. She arches her back and grinds her hips in time with him. He can feel her breath, hot in his ear and everything, the whole world seems to be moving faster with them. The heat, the passion, the whatever increases in pitch and-

"Ah! Mmm…mmm…Aang…fuck…" Katara comes and her body tenses around Aang's cock and-

"Oh, shit! Katara! Shit, shit…fuck!" To much, to good. This could have gone on another hour or two and that would've been just fine. It lasted only seven or so minutes, but hey, could've been worse.

Katara's mumbling things that Aang can't really hear. Her face is red and she's sweaty and twitchy. Aang notices then there is a sizable circle of blood beneath her.

"Oh, shit. Katara, are you ok?"

"Hmm? Ok? Aang, I'm…I'm wonderful. Spirits, I'm wonderful."

"But…" he points to the blood that she must not have noticed.

"Oh, that?" she smiles at him "Virgins bleed, Aang. I'm fine." She gets out from under him and sits up, still trying to catch her breath. "Some husbands hang the sheets with blood stains on them to show that their wives were virgins. At least they do that in the Water Tribe."

"That's kinda weird," Aang says.

"Yeah. A little."

"Katara?"

"Hmm?"

"I think we just had sex."

Katara feigns shock "What?! Really?"

Aang shakes his head. "Sorry, but…shit, we just had sex."

"Yes, Aang. We did."

"I never thought I would ever have sex. I'm a monk. It was just something far away and far removed from me, but now it's so real. I spent months, years, imagining what it would be like, with you and now… fuck, it's so beautiful, Katara. You and I are beautiful. I love you. I'll always love you.

Katara pretends there are no tears in her eyes. She leans over and kisses Aang's head. "I'll always love you too, Aang." Then Katara climbs over him and stands.

"Where are you going?"

"I need a bath," she sniffles, voice breaking. "Join me?" she asks with a raised eyebrow and a bit of snot dripping from her nose.

Aang nods. "Spirits, you're beautiful," he says, standing to wipe the snot from her face. "Even with boogers on your face."

* * *

**Alright!**

Slightly longer chapter this week. That should make _some people _happy (cough, cough Mrs. Shikamaru Nara). This chapter also had plenty of kataang in it. That should make some _other people _happy (cough, cough theretrogamer224). Sorry guys, I may have caught a cold or something. Anyway, thanks reviewers, you guys fill my day with happiness and joy and...umm...happiness. Please, please review this chapter if you get the chance. Was it sexy enough for ya? Maybe not since it was their first time, but don't worry. They _will _have more sex. Next chapter? I have absolutely no clue. Maybe some Ty Lee/Yuko romance. Nothing sexy, just sweet (probably). Umm. Suki? Maybe? Toph just showed up, someone (Suki) will probably have a heartfelt conversation with Toph. Azula? Evil plans, schemes and such. Yeah. Not much planned just yet. You'll have to wait a couple more chapter for the **BIG **things to go down. So yeah. Review and fave and blah, blah, blah you've heard it all before.

Love y'all.


	9. Heart to Heart

You see, a conflict always begins with an issue - a difference of opinion, an argument. But by the time it turns into a war, the issue doesn't matter anymore, because now it's about one thing and one thing only: how much each side hates the other.

- Neal Shusterman, _Unwind_

* * *

Ok, so timeline. I decided the timeline here is a little murky, so I want to clear it up before we begin.

The first chapter happened four months ago. That's easy. The second took place two weeks after the first. The third chapter took place the day after the second chapter. The fourth chapter took place three whole months after the third chapter. The fifth chapter took place the day after the fourth chapter. The sixth chapter took place the day after the fifth chapter. The seventh chapter took place about four days after the sixth chapter. The eighth chapter, or at least the beginning of it, took place the day after the seventh chapter. The wedding took place a week later. Phew. Clearer? Ok, now this chapter jumps around a bit. The beginning takes place the day after the eighth chapter. The next part takes place that night and the part after that hints at something that took place like three weeks after the beginning of the chapter (which will be discussed next chapter, I promise), but is set six weeks after the beginning of this chapter. Was that confusing? Yes, I think it was, but it will make sense after you read it…I hope. Ok, hope that helped some of you out there who were getting confused, because I admit, I'm rather vague with the timing. I'm also vague on location. I'll just say they were in the Fire Nation most of the time unless otherwise specified, but the wedding and the following chapter takes place on Air Temple Island.

* * *

"Aang?" Sokka manages to catch Aang alone. He's been with Katara all day, unsurprising considering they just got married last night, but it's almost dinner time by the time he sees him emerge from the honeymoon suite.

"Oh, hey Sokka."

"Where's Katara?"

"She's getting dinner ready. She says she has some kind of surprise for me so she kicked me out. What's up?"

Sokka frowns at him "I'm just gonna go ahead and ask. Why did you make Zuko your best man?"

Aang sighs as if he saw this coming "Sokka-"

"I mean the guy tried to kill you. I get we're all friends now and everything, but I was your friend way before he was your friend."

"Yeah, I know, but Sokka-

"Come on, Aang! Why would you do that to me. We're so close, how could you?!"

"Sokka! Listen," Aang says "You've been gone awhile and it's not your fault. Your role in the Restoration Movement has been vital, but things have been happening in the Fire Nation that you haven't been around for. Azula escaped and it's caused a lot more trouble than you would think. Zuko has been there for me and I've been there for him lately."

"But, Aang-"

"Let me finish, Sokka. Zuko is…a little insecure. Despite being the Firelord and everything, he's still really unsure of himself sometimes. Making him my best man…I thought that it'd really be good for him. To show him that we're friends and we've got each other's backs no matter what and it's really important to make sure it stays like that. The two of us are the most powerful people in the world, we can't afford to not be close, Sokka. Plus, you _know_ you're my friend. You shouldn't need any confirmation. We've been to the ends of the Earth together, Sokka."

Sokka hates logic "I know," he pouts "but…"

"But what?"

"I don't know. I get it. I just…feel kinda left out. It seems like Suki's keeping something from me. You and Katara are married now, so you don't have time for me. Everybody seems like they're all in this Azula hunt and I'm just getting in the way.

"That's not true, Sokka. You could be a huge help."

"I feel like that ship has sailed."

"It hasn't. Not until we find her."

Sokka sighs. "Ok."

"Give me a hug," Aang says, grinning.

Sokka attempts to pout a little longer, but can't hold it. He gives Aang his "I forgive you" hug.

"We good?"

"Yeah, we're good."

"Great."

"Aang!? Dinner!" Katara calls.

"Fuck. Gotta go. See you later, Sokka," Aang says, hurrying off to his wife.

"Aang!?" she calls again.

"I'm coming!"

_Did Aang just say "fuck"?_

* * *

Azula manages to steal some clothes off of a clothes line so she no longer looks liked an escaped mental patient. She's been thinking lately, after she killed Ty Lee's sister, that she needs to broaden her horizons. That escapade was fun and all, very fun, but she needs to come up with some new ways to bring the hurt to those who deserve it.

_Right Mommy?_

In order to bring her visions to life, however, she would need some help. As powerful and intelligent as she is, she won't be able to start a war in the Fire Nation all by herself. She needs some righteous, Fire Nation Power types to get this started. She might as well start at a bar.

She enters a particularly rough looking one and sits down at the bar. She notices that there's one other woman who has dared to enter. A dangerous looking bitch in all black with a whip and a red tattoo of a serpent on each arm. She's beating the crap out of some of the guys and Azula smiles at the like minded woman. _Maybe she'll join me. She's hot._

Azula orders whatever the bartender cares to pour her and listens into some conversations. She doesn't want to talk to just anybody. Who knows, there might be some Earth Kingdom or Pro-Restoration people around. After twenty minutes or so, her eavesdropping pays of and she hears some men talking about how the Fire Lords new policies are "sucking up to the Earth Kingdom and fucking Fire Nation citizens in the ass."

"Hello, gentlemen," she says to the group of six in the back of the bar. "I couldn't help but overhear your political conversation and might I just say I couldn't have put it better myself."

"Is that so? What's your name gorgeous?" one of them, obviously the alpha of the group asks, pulling her closer by the waist.

Azula tolerates this, thinking it will get her further with these men "I'm _Princess_ Azula," she says, being sure to emphasize the "princess" part.

Alpha scrutinizes her "Shit," he says. "You really are, aren't you?"

"That's right," she says.

"Umm," he removes his hand from around her waist obviously afraid he's made a mistake in not only touching her, but in criticizing Fire Nation policies. "So why are you here, your majesty?"

"I've recently managed to escape the terrible prison I was unjustly sentenced to for my views. All I want is to do what is best for the Fire Nation and her citizens, but I was considered too radical and was silenced." Looks of sympathy. _Such koala-sheep. This will be easy._ "Now I'm doing a bit of recruiting for the cause and you gentlemen seem perfect for the job," she purrs. "Unlike my big brother, ZuZu, I actually care about Fire Nation citizens. I wouldn't want you to be…how did you put it? 'Fucked in the ass?' I'm on your side."

Alpha looks resolute "We'll help your cause, Princess. We've always admired you." This is met with nods from the others.

_Great, loyal koala-sheep._

"Thank you…what's your name?"

"It's Fu."

"Thank you, Fu. I'm sure you'll be a great help, but we're going to need more man power."

"Leave it to me. There is a whole bunch of guys I know who will join us."

"Excellent. Together we will take the Fire Nation back for ourselves!" Cheers.

_Too damn easy._

* * *

What Azula doesn't know is that the attractive women with the whip and tattoos is eavesdropping on _her_ conversation. The woman's name is June and she doesn't know why, but she feels the need to tell her occasional pain in the ass, Zuko about his sister's plans. It's not like she owes him anything, but being Earth Kingdom and having actually benefited from many of the new Fire Lords policies, less border control, for example, she figures it would be best.

Sure she could bag Azula right now, but then there's the matter of the huge bounty she could be paid to _find_ the princess.

She smirks, leaving the bar and hopping on Nyla. Today was turning out to be a pretty great day.

* * *

The intel they received six weeks ago from the bounty hunter, June, was invaluable. Zuko agreed to pay her whatever she wanted to find Azula. They put together a search party to accompany her and sent them off. Unfortunately they hadn't yet heard anything form anyone and this was beginning to worry everyone. It seemed that the search party had just disappeared. No one knows if they found Azula or not. They still have no clue as to her whereabouts and they all begin the fear the worst.

Somehow Azula had gotten the better of them. Azula is still out there, probably with a growing army, and there is no telling when the attack will come, so everybody is forced to just wait. It was indeed an epic battle. One that deserves a place in Fire Nation history books, but Suki doesn't know anything about it, nor is she worrying about it in the least right now. She has her own problems to worry about, namely the rapidly growing bulge in her stomach.

She's thrown up four times today and it's barely afternoon. Luckily Sokka isn't here to comment. He's with Aang and Zuko trying to come up with a strategy for something that they won't see coming until its too late. Everyone is wound up really tight lately, trying to see in all directions at once, as if Azula will jump out of any dark corner they don't happen to be looking at.

Azula's become something of a legend now (search parties disappearing without a trace can definitely do that) and waiting for the ghost to show up is a lot scarier than if it were actually here.

Once again though, Suki's not really as worried about that as she should be. She tries to worry about it, because it would be easier to deal with than what she's dealing with now, but she can't.

Not knowing is going to be the death of her.

She hasn't told anyone that she's pregnant just yet. Now is not the best time. The bump isn't noticeable to anyone but herself, but the morning sickness, the constant running to the bathroom to puke up her guts isn't helping.

She's probably around two months pregnant so she's hoping she has a little more time before it becomes obvious, especially to Sokka, but she honestly doesn't know when it will start the show. She also doesn't know if she's seven or eight weeks pregnant or in more blunt terms, if she's pregnant with Sokka's baby or Zuko's. This is the thing that is going to drive her crazy. She doesn't know and she probably won't know until the baby is born, and what then? If it's Zuko's they've got a serious scandal on there hands. If it's Sokka's than no one will ever have to know about the affair, but fuck, what if it's Zuko's?

Could she be carrying the heir to the Fire Nation thrown inside of her? Would they even be considered the heir, or would they be illegitimate? It would be Zuko's first child so…but what if he marries Mai before the child is born? Then what? Then…oh shit…

Suki runs to the bathroom again to hurl. She presses her forehead against the porcelain and tries to slow her mind. _Just hope it's Sokka's. _

She knows she should go to Katara and get checked out, but she's scared. It's almost as if no one knows then it doesn't exist, it's not really happening, but what if somethings wrong with the baby and she doesn't check and the baby dies and shit, shit, oh shit.

She heaves, but she doesn't have anything left in her stomach so she's left with just the taste of bile in her mouth.

She gets up, rinses off her mouth and decides to take a walk to clear her head. The courtyard is empty except for…

"Hey, honey. What's up?"

"Toph? What are you doing here?"

"Walking, same as you, but you feel pretty stressed right now, are you ok?"

Suki looks at Toph and Toph stares vacantly back. She's not such a little girl anymore at sixteen, but still Suki doubts she would understand what's going on with her. "Just the usual," she answers.

"Nope. You're lying. Tell me what's _really_ wrong. I won't judge."

Suki thinks about this. Toph supposedly gives great advice when she wants to. "Toph, if I tell you this, you can't tell anyone, ever, understand?"

"Yes," she says sincerely.

"I'm pregnant," Suki tells her.

"Ok, congratulations?"

"That's not all."

"It's twins?" Toph asks.

"No…"

"Oh. You cheated with Zuko and had sex with Sokka not too long after so you don't know who knocked you up."

"No- Yes? How did you know that?"

"I figured it out just now. You and Zuko were awfully chummy when Sokka wasn't around."

"Please don't tell him, Toph," Suki pleads.

"I won't, honey. Don't worry. This is your problem to deal with."

"I don't know what to do."

"You should tell Katara. Make sure everything is ok and whatever."

"I know."

Toph nods. "If it's Sokka's, don't tell him."

"Why?" Suki wasn't planning on it, but she still wants to know why Toph agrees.

"He cheated on you and you had the perfect opportunity to tell him that you cheated too, but you didn't so it's too late now. If it's his, don't bother breaking his heart, just never do it again, ok? People make mistakes."

Suki nods, not bothering to question how in the hell Toph knows all this. "Thank you, Toph."

"I'm not done, though. You have to tell Zuko you're pregnant ASAP. If it's Zuko's you have the heir to the Fire Nation in your belly and that's a big thing. You may need to take some responsibility in that case."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Maybe marry Zuko?" she says, picking her teeth with her pinky nail.

"Oh, spirits."

"Yeah, it's tough honey, but you fucked up."

"I…You're right. I'll go see Katara and then I'll tell him." Toph nods and starts walking away "Toph?" She turns "Thanks."

"I didn't tell you anything you didn't already know, honey."

Suki nods and leaves sighing to herself. First things first, she needs to talk to Katara.

She reaches her door, takes a breath and knocks.

"Come in."

"Hey, Katara."

"Hi, Suki. What's up?"

"Umm…"

"Are you feeling ok? You look a little sick."

"Yeah, I'll try not to throw up on anything," Suki says, only half joking.

"Oh, spirits. Come sit down. Tell me when you started feeling sick. You may have an infection. What are your other symptoms? And how-"

"Katara," Suki interrupts, "I already know what's wrong."

"Oh. Ha, don't tell me you're pregnant?"

"Ok, I won't tell you."

"Wait, really? You're pregnant?" Suki nods "Ha, wow, well I guess they'll be almost the same age after all. That's so great."

"What? Wait, Katara are you pregnant too?"

"Yeah. I was just thinking how it was a little weird that I was having kids before my older brother and I was thinking that Sokka better start getting it in soon so this one here," she gestures to her stomach "isn't too much older, you know?"

"Oh."

"Lay down. Let me see what's going on."

"Have you told Aang?"

"Nope. Not yet. He's too stressed right now. Have you told Sokka yet?"

"No, not yet."

Katara nods "Do you know how far along you are?" she asks, lifting Suki's shirt and working her healing water over her abdomen.

"About seven weeks I think."

"Eager, huh? Sokka got back seven weeks ago."

"Yeah…"

"Well turns out Sokka will have kids before me after all. I'm probably only a month along right now."

_Katara's pregnant too? Figures. She gets it easy. She's happily married, probably wanted to have kids right away. She's the motherly type. She'll be a fantastic mother. Me? Not so much._

After a few moments of Katara "hmm"ing and "aha"ing, Suki asks "So, is everything ok?"

"Looks like. Check back with me, oh, every six weeks or so if you could. Oh, and don't do any heavy lifting, fighting, or anything that's too straining, alright?"

Suki smiles halfheartedly "That'll be hard for me."

"Yes, I know. But it's best for you and the baby. Trust me."

"I'll be careful."

"You had better, this is my niece or nephew we're talking about," she says grinning.

"Yeah, I'll be careful," she manages. It's hard to speak with so much guilt lodged in her throat. _What if this isn't your niece or nephew? _"Umm…do you know when I'll start showing?"

"Yeah probably about another month, month and a half."

"I guess I'll have to tell Sokka before that. Hopefully all of this Azula shit blows over before then."

"Yeah. Oh and here take this," Katara hands Suki a bottle. "This should help with the morning sickness. Mine hasn't really started up just yet so I'm not sure how good it is, but it's supposed to help."

"Thanks."

Suki leaves, thinking that if this was easy part than how is she supposed to get through the hard part?

She tells a servant to let Zuko know she wants to see him whenever he's done with his meetings and then waits in the courtyard. He shows up two hours later.

"Suki, I don't have much time. I have another meeting in twenty minutes."

"This won't take long. Zuko…" _say it, say it, say it ._"I'm…well I'm pregnant."

Zuko doesn't speak. He looks at her. Down at her abdomen as if he's trying to see it, then back up at her face.

"You're pregnant?"

"Yes. You can't tell yet but, Katara says I'll star showing in about a month."

"You told her?"

"Yes."

"Who else knows?" he whispers, eyes darting around searching for non existent eavesdroppers.

"It's just you, Katara, and Toph. Zuko…I don't know if it's yours or not. I'm telling you because it _might_ be yours, but it might be Sokka's. I just don't know for sure."

"Oh. I see."

"If it's yours…"

"I don't know, Suki. You've…got to give me some time," he tells her, pinching the bridge of his nose. Suki instantly feels bad for putting more stress on the Fire Lord at a time like this.

"Ok. Ok, I can do that. Whenever you're ready, we'll talk."

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, alright?"

"Alright, sure. Tomorrow," Suki says. Zuko leaves, obviously startled. Obviously trying to process the possibilities. If it is, if it isn't? What if it isn't and they make the wrong choice now? What if it is and they don't?

Suddenly, Suki crouches down and puts her head between her knees, willing her stomach to stop rolling. Then it's the tears that she's fighting, but sobs break through her body anyway. This is all her fault. She made one mistake. A terrible mistake to be sure, and now she's being punished for it.

"Oh, spirits. What do I do, huh? Tell me what I should do." No answer. "Tell me!"

She sits there in the courtyard for a long time, sobbing until she can't anymore and wondering why no one can hear her.

* * *

"Ty Lee?" Nothing "Ty Lee, please open the door." Still nothing "For me?" Nope. "I brought you a fruit tart. With rose petals on top." The door opens a few inches. "Oh, so you'll do it for the fruit tart but not for me?" Yuko teases.

Ty Lee doesn't answer but she fights a smile.

"Here," Yuko says, handing Ty Lee the tart.

"Thanks."

"How are you?"

"Fine."

"Your going to have to do better than that Ty Lee. You went to Aang and Katara's wedding, what, six weeks ago? You went to Fei Yen's funeral. You haven't been out since.

"I don't want to go out."

"Ty Lee it's been weeks."

"I know," she says, stuffing her mouth full of tart "but I'm not ready."

Yuko softens at that "Then are you ready to talk to me?"

Ty Lee looks at her. "What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know. Anything."

"What? You want me to cry about how this is all my fault and then you want to comfort me and tell me it's not? Well it fucking is, ok? And there is nothing you can say that will change that." She's mad now, but that's ok. She can be mad. At least she's talking…yelling, but it's a start.

"Ty Lee-"

"Don't 'Ty Lee' me! It was _my_ fault. My sister's dead and it's my fault. It was my fault when I left to join the circus. What kind of a dumb bitch am I, anyway? Joining the circus? What the hell was I thinking? And then look what I did. How do you fall in love with a psychopath? I must have, like, the worst judgement in the world! Everything I've done has been a mistake."

"Joining the Kyoshi warriors was a mistake?"

"No! No."

"Befriending me was a mistake?"

"Oh, Yuko no. I didn't mean it like that."

"I know. I just wanted to point out that you do have good judgment. You're friends with _me_ after all." Yuko smiles her teasing smile again.

"You're right." Ty Lee smiles too, anger leaving the same it came. Yuko?"

"Yes?"

"There is something I wanted to tell you."

"What?"

"You got me through that," she says, looking down at her toes.

"What do you mean."

"Without you, I wouldn't have wanted to come back. All I could think about was seeing you again."

Yuko was more than a little stunned at the heartfelt confession.

"Ty Lee-"

"No, listen. You're right, I need to talk. If I don't get this out now, I never will. I love you, Yuko. I kept seeing your face and I kept thinking about how I wanted to come back and live with you forever and ever. I want to die with you. So please, don't give up on me ever, because you never have. I just want…I just want to be next to you."

Ty Lee cries. She cries a lot, but it's always with such genuine emotion and this is why Yuko loves her. She's real. Sometimes she's fake, but it's to cover up this very real pain. It makes her beautiful.

"Ty Lee, I shouldn't have to say this, you should know, but I love you too."

And then they kiss. And then they just sit there together, wrapped in each other's arms next to the half eaten tart and spilled rose petals.

* * *

**Ok,**

So, I have an irrational hatred of this chapter. I don't know why. Maybe one of you could tell me? Does it suck or something? I don't know, I think it's because a large portion of it was total bullshit. (Though I do pride myself on being a fairly good bullshitter). I didn't want to reveal all of this just yet, but my fingers stopped listening to my brain, so here it is. Next chapter you'll get a lengthy and epic explanation of June and the search party's disappearance. And speaking of June, good to see her right? I love her. She's a girl crush of mine. So yeah. Big, big thank you's going around so bear with me. Hem, hem: Thanks, as always, to my most loyal reviewers, theretrogamer224 and Mrs. Shikamaru Nara. You guys know I love you. Thank you to kataang21 and idstealer000 for thinking that the booger line was hilarious. I really love it when people appreciate my sense of humor. Thank you to that one guest (I hope you know who you are) who comments a lot. And thank you SubjectDeltaBubz for thinking that my story is great. I forgot to thank you last week. :) Phew, so many wonderful people to thank! My thanking muscles are tired. Anyway, keep on reviewing, reviewers and keep on faving and following, people who read but don't follow. I know you're out there, I'm talking to you! Just kidding...mostly. Teehee.

Ok, see you next week.


	10. Of Fire and Brimstone

"Then the lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven; and He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. So it goes."

- Kurt Vonnegut, _Slaughterhouse-5_

* * *

On Azula's mind there are several different things, only one of which being the man she is currently having sex with.

Fu is a loyal soldier to be sure, but Azula knows that a little extra…persuasion can't hurt anything. She's made sure to tell Fu just how much she cares for him. How they will be the strongest couple in the world and dominate the Earth together, and he believes every word. He's taken his job as her tool very seriously and actually exceeded Azula's expectations. He took it upon himself to recruit over five hundred soldiers "for the cause", about a fifth of them being Fire Benders.

Fu's fully convinced that they are going to storm the Fire Nation Capital together and take over the world. He's fully convinced that he will be Fire Lord and Azula his Lady. To be truthful, Azula has been caught up in his and the other's enthusiasm. This started as a way to get her revenge on all the people who deserve it, but taking over the Fire Nation _does_ sound like a pretty decent idea.

It's difficult for her to think and formulate plans while having sex and moreover, trying to seem engaged in it, but the bulk of her attention lies in dealing with the approaching search party that scouts spotted early tonight.

Ambush seems to be the word of the day. We know they're coming, but they don't yet know where we're hidden, at least that's the theory. Azula is willing to work under this assumption, especially because her army outnumbers the search party. Though, she concedes, the search party is made up of trained soldiers while her's is of thieves, bandits, drunks and the others who make up the muck of society. Even with as much muck as she has, will it be enough to wash out the entirety of the search party? The entirety because she won't allow any to escape. If even one gets away and makes it back to the Capital, her plan will be ruined. She's relying on the element of surprise here. She's counting on the fact that her dear brother and the Avatar now assume she's simply after Ty Lee. They'll never see an army coming to over through the government. At least that's the assumption. Azula finds that she's working on assumptions more often then not. She's beginning to realize the enormity of what she is attempting and looking back, she's not even sure how it came to this.

Five months ago she was in her room, drugged into happiness, with Katara pretending like she cared about her, but Katara is mommy so she couldn't possibly care. Her mother thought she was a monster. She hated her. So Katara must hate her too. She looked at her with those same caring eyes that hide the same truth. The caring only hid the disgust, but the drugs hid the deception. They made Azula see what she wanted to see, but it was so nice. It was so nice to see the caring and not be able to see the disgust behind it. It made her feel like her mother was a lie, or maybe that she wasn't and maybe she was wrong and maybe she was right because Azula has no idea if she always believed that her mother loved her and she was wrong about the hate or if it's the other way around.

Fu makes a sound like a wounded animal, pulls out, and comes all over her face, which she hates, but has decided not comment on.

"Oh, Fu," she says in that voice she knows he likes "You and I, together, we're invincible."

Fu lays his head on her chest "Yeah," he mumbles.

Azula freezes because, for less than a moment, a length of time that doesn't really even constitute a moment, it's Ty Lee's head on her chest, cheek to her heart, but then it's just Fu again so she doesn't wrap her arms around him because he isn't Ty Lee.

"Fu?" she says quietly "Go and prepare the troops for the ambush, will you?"

"Of course," he says quickly. He gathers his things, gets dressed and leaves.

Azula lies there alone for a while. She's still not entirely sure of anything, which bothers her to no end. She's still not sure if this is what she wants or if this is what the people around her have made her believe that she wants. She's not sure what _she_ wants exactly. She wants revenge, yes, but then what? Does she really want to be Fire Lord or Lady or whatever, or does she like this…freedom.

She's an outlaw of sorts now. On the run, relentlessly hunted and she's beginning to find it exhilarating to say the least. And all these men who will listen to her every command unquestioned? It's a good life, this, but what happens when she goes for the thrown? What happens if she wins?

"Azula!" She knows it's Fu calling her because only he can call her anything other than princess, your highness, etc.

"What is it?" she snaps.

"They're here! We need you."

Azula smiles, decides she'll think the deep shit through later. Right now there are people to slaughter.

* * *

June didn't sign up to be the hero. She was never the type. Her father was a bounty hunter and her mother long dead. The life she knew as a child was dangerous and really not the life for a child at all, so she grew up quick. She likes money and she likes the chase, that's all and she's got it all right here chasing the Fire Lord's crazy as sister for a royal paycheck. She didn't expect an ambush.

"What the hell is going on?" she yells as Nyla gets twitchy from all the incoming scents.

"Ambu-" the poor bastard can't get the word out. There's a knife in his throat.

"Hold your ground," the guy in charge calls. Guy-in-charge. June never bothered to learn his name because he's an idiot.

"No! We're out badly numbered!" she yells at the soldiers and they look back and forth between the two, trying to decided whether to save their asses or their pride.

Guy-in-charge glares at her "How can you know that?" Arrows start flying and June glares back.

"If the arrows are any indication…and Nyla's flipping her shit, there's got to be hundreds."

"Hundreds?! We're supposed to be facing one woman."

"Apparently not," June practically growls because guy-in-charge is right. This sure as hell is _not _what she signed up for.

More arrows, narrowly missing their targets now. June steers a frantic Nyla out of the line of fire as an arrow sails into some poor guys scull.

They came with only fifty men, thinking that that was more than enough to deal with one woman. Fifty would dwindle fast, very fast.

"We need to get out of here!"

"Oh, but the fun has only just begun! You can't even _think _of leaving yet!"

June turns and there she is. Princess Azula atop a kimono-rhino, flanked by at least a dozen men.

"Princess Azula, I presume? You've got one hell of an army here," June calls to her, trying to mask her mounting fear with bravado. June doesn't get scared, nothing rattles her, but this bitch…this bitch is fucking nuts. She can smell the crazy on her. The manic look on her face says just how much she'd enjoy roasting every, single one of them on a spit.

"Yes, do you like it? Tell me, what's your name?"

"It's June."

"June? What a lovely name for a lovely women. Tell me June, would you like to join me? I would _love _to have you on my side."

Something in her voice and the way she's licking her lips says that it's her bed rather than her side she wants her on. "No, thanks. I'm getting paid big to kick your ass. Nothing personal."

"Is that so? Well that's too bad, are you sure? We could be great friends June, great friends."

"No, I'm good. I have way to many 'friends' as it is." And with that June whips Nyla into action. She whips out her tongue, aiming for Azula, but she dodges at the last second. It catches the guy next to her instead, paralyzing him.

"Hmm…interesting. You're very dangerous aren't you June? You and that beast of yours. I'd better kill you or you might get in my way."

_Or I might get away. _She looks around for an exit. Getting back to the capital alive is her first priority. She found Azula after all. She'll just tell Zuko where to look and get paid. Warning him about that her army's at least five hundred strong might be a good idea too. First, though, she needs to find an exit and that's not happening. Arrows, fire. Lots of fire. Fire everywhere and Nyla's getting worse, nearly throwing her out of her saddle.

"Woah, Nyla! Chill out! We need to get out of here." But it's becoming increasingly difficult to see, and breath for that matter. Fine, no way out? She'll make a way.

"Alright, come on!" She grips her whip and snaps a fire bender hard on the back of the knee. He isn't getting up after that. Nyla rears up on her hind legs and lands one of her front paws square in the middle of a guys chest.

A huge guy with a big ax heads right for them. His primal scream's cut off as Nyla's tongue catches him on the arm.

"Come on. Come on." The Fire Bender to the left is met with a whip to the face and his scream says that his eyes are not longer going to do him any good. There's a lull and June takes the opportunity to find a way out again. Her so called comrades, the vast majority of them, are face down or face up or somehow dead on the ground. Fifty dwindles fast.

"June…"

She turns in Nyla's saddle and finds guy-in-charge on the ground to her left.

"Go. You have to tell the Fire Lord what happened," he croaks.

"I know. I've been trying to get the hell out of here, but-" she coughs violently on cue "it's kinda hard with all the fire and brimstone, epic war stuff you know?"

More of Azula's soldiers are heading towards her.

"Shit. Come on Cap' we got to go," she tells him.

"Yes, _you _do." And that's when June notices the sword through his chest, pinning him to the ground.

"Oh. That…must hurt," she says, looking down at the man whose name she never even bothered to learn with pity. "I can make the pain stop, if that's what you want."

"Sure," he says. Sure. He's pin to the ground, about to die and he says "sure". Death is usually this anticlimactic. Shouldn't it be: "no, I want to die with honor"? Shouldn't there be tears? June has lost enough people to know that death isn't always pretty. There isn't alway an honorable farewell. There aren't always tears and screaming and begging either. Sometimes death is quiet, casual, which is disgusting because it's death and it shouldn't be casual or quiet or uneventful. It should be loud and earth-shattering every time, for everyone, but it's not because no matter what people say to you, death _does _discriminate. We all end up dead in the end, sure, but it's insulting that sometimes the world doesn't even seem to notice.

June hopes guy-in-charge has some loved ones to cry over him. She hopes there will be tears and that something, anything, will take notice. She hopes he drifts out in a hazing, poison induced daze with no pain. She hopes he doesn't mind that his last word was "sure."

"Where are _you_ going?" Azula asks from somewhere to her right. She doesn't know where because it's becoming harder to see and the smell of burning flesh tends to make her nauseous.

"I'm leaving," she says, but it comes out very weak.

"Sorry, but no. You're not."

June whips Nyla, but Nyla is on fire and maybes it's the smoke, and maybe it's the smell of burning bodies, but the fire looks blue. Nyla throws her out of the saddle and June lands hard on her back. The impact knocks whatever wind was left in her lungs out.

"You're a brave woman, June. Are you sure you don't want to join me?"

June looks up at her. Saying yes now could spare her her life. She just has to say yes, but all these people are burning and she can't sleep with the smell of their flesh in her nose. She's never been a hero, or a particularly honorable women. She's made enough mistakes to last her many lifetimes, but the one thing she prides her self on is never having blood on her hands. Her father died without killing a single person, he always brought the bounty back alive. June is pretty sure she's killed at least one person today, and that's enough for her. Joining Azula…she would feel her owns hands dirty just being near her.

No, it's ok. She's not a hero and she didn't sign up for this, but she's ok with her last word being "leaving."

She shakes her head.

"Aww. That's to bad."

She's not ok with going down without a fight.

She rolls out of the way, the blue, and yes they are definitely blue, flames narrowly missing her head.

"Well that's rude! Why don't you just give up and die!" Azula punctuates the "die" with a blast of fire from her fist.

June darts to the side, but this time the flame catches her arm. She falls to her knees but manages to get away from a third blast.

She's panting and her arm is burning and she can't get enough oxygen, but she's not going to stop fighting. Her death won't be casual or quiet, she'll make sure of that.

She brings up her whip with her good arm and cracks blindly. She hears a hysterical scream so she knows it must have made contact somewhere. Then she runs. She runs like she's never run before, because Azula was stupid and took her on alone so maybe she'll get away. So she runs and she keeps running. She runs until there is lighting in her back and her heart stops and she falls to the ground face up or face down or otherwise dead on the ground. She didn't have time to say anything. Let"leaving" be her last word.

* * *

The battle lasted mere minutes, and over half of the search party was asked to join Azula at some point or another. Every single one of them declined. No one survived, but everybody died just the way they wanted to, as if there is really any justice in that. It wasn't a battle that was epic in scale or duration, but in honor. As if there is any justice in that either. Sometime later it would be called "June's Battle."

June's still dead despite the name.

The search party found what they were searching for, but weren't ready for what they found. Azula isn't really sure she's ready yet, but it's too late to worry about that now as she marches slowly towards the capital to have her revenge, and the thrown, and then maybe she'll just burn the whole world to the ground and hope that whatever crawls it's way out of the ashes amuses her.

* * *

**Haters...you have every right to hate.**

Hate me all ya want for killing June. I loved her too you know! If you care to know, I'll tell you why I did it. (1) She's a badass and I wanted to give her a badass death and I couldn't think of anything more fitting. (2) No one was allowed to escape because Azula's army needs to remain a secret. Surprise attack and all that. Sorry to all the June lovers. Like I said, I love her too, but it was important to the story...At least to me. I'll also apologize for the obvious stalling that's going on here. I wanted to take a "pleasant" little diversion from the main story line for a bit. Plus I needed some action. I'm boring myself here with all the mushy crap. Not that I don't love mushy crap (obviously) but I needed some violence and slaughter. You get it right? Sorry if you just felt this little experiment was an epic fail. Please let me know what you thought! (Please.) All in all, I have about three or four more chapters that need writing and that's pretty much it. I know, I know, Suki's preggo, Katara's preggo, talks need to happen, Mai and Zuko need to sort some shit out, Suki and Sokka need to sort some shit out, Azula's got some work to do, etc. etc. the list goes on. So yeah. We'll be getting back to business next chapter, so get excited. As always, thank you so, so, so, (I really can't fit enough so's) reviewers and readers. You rock so fucking hard! Review and follow and all that shit. :)

Yeah, bye.


	11. Stupid Love

There were things I wanted to tell him. But I knew they would hurt him. So I buried them, and let them hurt me.

- Jonathan Safran Foer, _Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close_

* * *

Katara's decided that today is the day she's going to tell Aang that she's pregnant. She's still not really showing yet, but there's been a lull in the Azula hunt as of late, so now's as good a time as any. Everyone is still a little on edge, having still heard nothing from the search party, they already fear the worst. They're expecting an attack any day now, but there's nothing more that anyone can do to prepare and there's no telling whether the attack will come tomorrow or next week or next year so everyone's just holed themselves up in the palace to wait.

"Aang?"

"Yeah, sweetheart?" Aang seems to have aged in the last couple of months. The stress, lack of sleep and probably everything that's ever happen to him seems to be catching up to him and giving him wrinkles.

"I need to tell you something. Something very important."

"Ok?" Aang sits up from his slump on the couch, looking a little more awake.

"I'm pregnant," Katara tells him, deciding not to beat around the bush.

"You're pregnant? Like with a baby?!" He asks, as if the thought of Katara being pregnant with an actually _baby _is a totally new concept to him.

"No, Aang, with an arctic seal. Yes, a baby!" She rolls her eyes, wondering why he's so shocked. They've been having sex at a regrettably frequent rate and it would almost seem more odd if she didn't get pregnant sooner or later, but it's almost as if he had never actually put two and two together. That them having sex would lead to a child doesn't seem to have crossed his mind at any point. "We're going to be parents, Aang," she tells him, making sure he actually gets them having a child means they are going to be parents.

He's shaking his head, face alternating between disbelief, happiness, and straight up terror. "When?"

Katara's not sure if he's asking when the baby will be born or when she got pregnant so she says "I'm two months pregnant."

"That means we only have seven months to get ready!" He says this as if months were days.

Katara chuckles "Yeah, Aang. Seven months. That's plenty of time."

"No, it's not! That's no time!"

"Aang, calm down. It's going to be fine. We're going to be fine."

Aang looks at her, smiles. "You're right. You're already the world's greatest mom and your not even a mom yet."

Katara looks down. Thinking about how she failed Azula. How is that for being a good mom? "That's not true."

As if reading her mind, Aang says "Azula's crazy. She already had problems with her mom and if you couldn't fix them, no one could. This isn't your fault." He's said this a thousand times. _This isn't your fault._ That doesn't make it not her fault. It doesn't matter which angle you come at it from, Katara is, at the very least, partially to blame for Azula's escape and whatever has happened or will happen because of it. "You'll be a great mom Katara." Aang smiles at her and he's sixteen but he already has the beginnings of smile lines.

"And you'll be a great dad, Aang," Katara tells him sincerely, because he will.

"I love you, Katara. This is just one more adventure for us, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess it is."

* * *

"Zuko?" Mai finally decides to speak up after standing in the doorway for a few minutes, hoping Zuko will notice her.

"What?" He doesn't seem particularly startled and he doesn't look up. It's almost as if he knew she was there and hoped that ignoring her would make her go away.

"Look, we need to talk."

"I'm busy right now," he says, still not looking up.

"We're done, Zuko." This gets his attention.

"What?"

"We've broken up before. A couple of times actually, and I keep coming back. I keep trying to be there for you. I keep trying to be a good girlfriend and I do whatever I can for you, but I'm tired Zuko. For once I need to put my needs before yours. I can't do this anymore."

Zuko seems both surprised and not simultaneously. He probably knew this was coming, but doesn't know what to do now that it's come. He doesn't say anything so she goes on.

"There's someone else who's there for you," she says. This surprises him. "I know you and Suki are very close now."

"Umm..yeah. She's a good friend. She was worried about me."

"Zuko, just stop it. I know you've been with her."

"What are you talking about?"But he's voice shakes. Mai's face doesn't change, stays sure because she _is_ sure. She's seen it in his eyes when he looks at her and now that she's pregnant she and Zuko actually seems to be spending even more time with together, which begs the question: Who exactly is the father?

"Zuko, forget it. It's fine. We've always had issues, but this is just…it. I'm not mad, I don't hate you and I'll always be your friend, but you're obviously in love with her. It's fine." And it is. Now. Mai isn't saying this for his sake or even trying to convince herself. She's fine with it now. She was angry before. She'd wanted to confront him about it and yell and accuse and do all the things that she's been taught to never do, but then she'd thought about it. She loves Zuko, but she's not sure if she was ever _in _love with him. She'd had a huge crush on him, sure, but there love never seemed to deepen any further. She never fell in, she barely got her feet wet. _Ending this relationship is actually more of a relief than anything else, _she realizes. The pain and the lies and all that. She doesn't have to worry about them anymore.

"Mai, I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you."

"You didn't. I'm not the one who is getting hurt," she says, earnestly. "If anyone's going to get hurt it's Sokka. If that baby of hers turns out to be yours, well, that's gonna break the poor guy's heart."

"How long have you known?" he asks, not looking at her.

"A while. I sort of ignored it, especially because after Sokka came back it seemed like you broke two it off. I ignored it, Zuko." She chuckles even though it's not funny in the least. "I let you cheat on me and didn't say a thing. It's only recently that I realized that it was just because I really didn't care all that much."

Zuko looks sad. Sadder than she's ever seen him and she pities him. It's a stupid mess he's gotten himself into and she doesn't have a clue what the right to do would be, but she isn't a part of it. She said she would always fight by his side, but this is one battle he has to fight without her.

"Goodbye, Zuko. Good luck."

* * *

Sokka is usually a pretty happy person, able to find humor in even the most humorless situations, but right now he's having a hard time. He feels like the universe is conspiring against him, which he often feels, but it's definitely true this time.

His girlfriend. His _pregnant _girlfriend is spending less time with him than she did before, which makes no sense. Katara is pregnant too, but she's got the right idea. She's spending all her time with Aang, talking about baby stuff or whatever. He heard that Mai broke up with Zuko for some reason so Zuko's probably moping. Ty Lee is off with her…girlfriend. (Sokka still finds the whole "Ty Lee likes girls thing a bit weird.") In other words, Sokka is pretty much alone except for…

"Toph!" he calls as she walks through the courtyard.

"Sokka? What's up?" Sokka's been hanging around the pond, sulking over his missing girlfriend.

"Nothing. How's it going?"

"Fine, but you're not," she says, sitting down on the floor and picking her nose.

"Eww, Toph."

She gives him a look "What's your problem, Sokka?"

"Well, you're picking your nose, it's gr-"

"Not that. I mean in general."

"I just…Suki's being all weird."

"Weird how?"

"Well, she just told me she was pregnant and I was really happy, you know? I'm going to be a dad and everything and I thought she would be happy too, you know, and we would talk about baby things and gush and, I don't know, prospective parent stuff."

"But it's not like that?" she asks, flicking a booger.

"No. She's spending less time with me than before."

"Where is she?"

"I have no idea. She just goes off and than comes back later." Sokka looks down before asking the question. "Do you think…" he can't say it.

Toph's face changes for a second, looks almost worried. "Think what?"

"Do you think that Suki's mad at me for getting her pregnant?" he asks.

"Oh. Uh, maybe."

"I mean, she's seemed so distant and when she told me, she didn't seem all that happy. She just said 'So, Sokka? I'm pregnant,' and that was it. Maybe…she blames me for getting her pregnant. Maybe she doesn't want kids. It's not all my fault though!" Sokka rambles.

"You're right. It takes two to make a baby."

"Exactly. So what the fuck is her problem?"

"Did you ask her?"

"Of course I did! She said nothing was wrong, don't worry. Bullshit. Somethings wrong and she won't tell me and everyone is…"

"Everyone is what?"

"Suki isn't a bender, but she's a badass," he says, not really answering the question. "You know, I used to feel so weak and left out because my sister's a master waterbender and my supposed best friend is the Avatar and there's you and Zuko and I can't keep up with all of you. I can't keep up with Suki either sometimes. I feel like all of you are out of my league."

"Sokka, stop being such a pussy and quit feeling sorry for yourself. It's not a good look."

"It's true, though."

"That's shit, Sokka. You know you're just as important as any one of us and you just wanna wallow in your own tears for a while. Suck it up, you've gotta be stronger than this. There are…worse things in the world."

And with that Toph stands abruptly, turns and walks away, but as she turns Sokka swears he sees something that looks suspiciously like a tear. That's stupid though. Toph doesn't cry.

* * *

Toph doesn't cry. She's stronger than that and crying is stupid, but when she wipes the back of her hand across her eyes her hand comes away wet.

It's stupid. It's all so stupid, especially Suki. How could she do that to Sokka? If it turns out that Sokka isn't the father, it's gonna break his fucking heart. Seeing him today has made Toph realize that Sokka is actually a lot more fragile than he seems. And he's so in love with Suki, finding out that she slept with Zuko would kill him.

On cue, Suki leaves Zuko's room and nearly jumps out of her skin when she see's Toph standing there.

"Oh, Toph. It's just you," she says, catching her breath and instinctually patting her abdomen. She's three and a half months pregnant so Toph figures she's showing. She can't tell, of course.

"Yeah, only me. What if I was Sokka passing by, seeing you come out of Zuko's room? Be more careful."

"I know. You're right."

"You've got to stop doing this, honey."

"Doing what?"

"Spending the day with Zuko. Sokka's suspicious. He thinks you're mad at him for getting you pregnant. He doesn't know where you are all day, but it's only a matter of time before he finds out.

"Oh, shit. I…didn't even think of that."

"No kidding. You haven't really even thought about Sokka at all have you?"

Suki looks down and Toph hopes she looks guilty.

"You're busy worrying 'what if it's Zuko's' but you've totally put 'what if it's Sokka's' on the back burner."

"Well, it's not a big deal if it's Sokka's."

"It is to him! Did you even think of that? He has no idea that it might not be his and you want to keep it that way don't you? He sees it like you don't want to have his baby or something. I get that it's a bigger deal if it's Zuko's, I get that, but it's fifty/fifty right now and you're not even paying the other side any mind. If you aren't careful, Sokka's gonna catch on and you don't want that."

"Why do you care so much, Toph? This is _my_ issue."

"Unfortunately," Toph says, turning away trying to hide a blush "I care about Sokka. I don't want to see him get hurt."

There's a pause and Toph can't even imagine what looks are crossing Suki's face at the moment and Toph never would've imagined what Suki says next. "He's lucky he has someone like you to watch his back. Maybe he should have made a different choice. All I do is hurt him. All you do is care. Maybe he's better off without me."

Toph takes a second to close her mouth and form words with it. "No way, honey. Sokka is madly in love with you. I'm like a little sister to him."

"But you wish you were more," Suki states.

"Maybe," is all she says to that. "You talk as if it's said and done. As if it's definitely Zuko's."

"No. It's just…here's the thing. I need to make a choice right now. Marry Zuko or don't marry Zuko. If I don't marry him before the child is born, then if the child is his they may not be considered legitimate. If I'm his wife before I give birth than everything should be alright."

"But what if you marry him and it's Sokka's."

"Exactly."

"What's so bad about being illegitimate?"

"Imagine if you were the first child of the Fire Lord and yet, because we weren't married, you would never be able to inherit the thrown. Some younger sibling of yours would inherit it. Wouldn't that be terrible?"

"Sure. But what you're doing to Sokka is terrible."

"I know that! I just…don't know what the right thing to do is. Maybe I should tell him now."

"What?" Toph is horrified.

"Maybe I should just tell him that it might not be his."

"But what if it is? You would have broken his heart for nothing."

"And what is it's not?!"

"Then he'll find out if the time comes. You just want to tell him because it will make _you_ feel better," Toph says angrily.

"No, I want to tell him because maybe he deserves better!" Suki shouts.

"And what are you gonna do, honey? Go be with Zuko? What will _he_ do if it's not his child?"

"I don't know," Suki whispers, energy to fight gone out of her as quickly as it came.

"You better figure it the fuck out, honey." Toph turns and walks away, angry at Suki, but not really. She feels bad for her. She feels bad for all of them, really. Stupid people. Stupid love. Love makes you do such stupid things. She'd like to say she'll never fall in love, that it's not for her, but Sokka's out there sulking and moping and she goes to keep him company.

* * *

**TADA!**

Ok, so not a very long or eventful chapter this week. I needed to dish out some emotional shit, but now that that's out of the way we can hopefully get down to more business type things next chapter. Thank you to all of those who reviewed the last chapter, namely kataang21, Mrs. Shikamaru Nara, and theretrogamer224. You guys are awesome. If you could keep being awesome for me that would be so wonderfully wonderful! Next chapter will be less boring, I promise. I don't know what's going to happen yet, but it _will _be interesting! So follow, and favorite, and review and stuff.

K, Bye!


	12. To Dust

I said it before, I won't say it again  
Love is a game to you, it's not pretend  
Maybe if I fall asleep, I won't breathe right

- Imagine Dragons, _Hear Me_

* * *

Zuko's not a drinker, but people tend to drink when their world is falling apart. It's not to keep them together, more to keep them from minding that their world is falling apart. It all becomes real funny and real hazy and real inconsequential. Since Zuko doesn't drink all that often, it doesn't take very long for everything to become funny and hazy and no big fucking deal.

Mai broke up with him for cheating on her, and she didn't even yell. Isn't that something? Yelling takes so much effort doesn't it? She couldn't even be bothered to be mad, but whatever, she's a bitch.

Speaking of bitches, Suki's belly is getting so big. She looks fat. Like a ballon. Zuko giggles as he imagines Suki's belly getting bigger and bigger and popping. It's not funny, but then, most things people laugh at while drunk aren't funny.

Is she a bitch? Well, yeah, but who's fault is that? Is it Zuko's fault? Probably. He's the one with responsibilities and shit, right? So, he probably shouldn't have had sex with her, but that hurts so he takes another sip of rice wine. He doesn't like thinking things are his fault, even if they are. They make him feel guilty and he hates feeling guilty. Then again, he wouldn't feel guilty if he didn't cheat so he goes to take another sip, only to find his second bottle empty. He goes for another one to shut these thoughts out because they hurt.

He imagines Suki popping again and giggles. How pregnant is she? Five months? Six? Something like that. She doesn't spend much time with him anymore. She's spending all her time with Sokka now. Go figure. So he's alone with too many bottles of rice wine and no friends.

He gets up, suddenly feeling lonely, and goes to find some friends. Maybe Aang's around. Even Katara would do.

He wanders around the halls, still clutching the bottle because until he finds some friends, the bottle is his only company. He staggers and it reminds him of something. It reminds him of years ago when Azulon, his grandfather, was still alive and Zuko wanted to impress him with what he had learned. Zuko had tried his best, but he still ended up on his ass and he'll never forget the look of disappointment on his grandfather's face. Or his father's.

He giggles again or maybe he cries, because that's his life isn't it? He tries his best and ends up on his ass. That's sad, and what else is sad is that the universe must hate him because the first person he runs into is Sokka.

"Zuko?" Sokka comes around the corner.

"Sokka, buddy! You see anyone around?" Zuko asks, hoping Aang or Katara or somebody, anybody else is around. For some reason he thinks talking to Sokka is a bad idea.

"No, why?"

"Oh, well, guess you'll do," Zuko slurs, forgetting why he shouldn't be talking to Sokka.

"Are you drunk?" Sokka asks, wrinkling his nose.

"Absolu'ely. Do you wish you were drunk?" he asks Sokka.

Sokka thinks for a moment, looks behind him, sighs and says "Absolutely."

Zuko hands him the half-empty bottle and Sokka downs it all in one gulp.

* * *

"Do you think birds get dizzy?" Sokka asks Zuko.

"Dizzy? I don' know."

"Birds fly in circles all the time. Don' they get dizzy?" Sokka's on his back and rotates his finger in lazy circles above, mesmerized by the movement. They're out in the courtyard, under the tree by the pond. It's late and the stars are coming out. Bottles, some full, some empty, some somewhere in between litter the grass.

"If they did, wouldn't they fall out of the sky or something?" Zuko asks, licking the rim of a now empty bottle.

Sokka giggles "Yeah, I be' they would." He makes a "weeee" sound and mimics a dizzy bird falling out the the sky. Zuko giggles too and then their both caught in an uncontrollable fit of laughter and making "weeee" and "splat" sounds. Their laughter dies down to hiccups and then they fall silent. Zuko is still smiling, but Sokka's thoughts grow heavier as they unfortunately tend to do when he's drunk.

"Y'know, I'm mad a' you," Sokka says.

"Why? What'd I do?" Zuko asks, taking a sip from a new bottle.

"You? I guess nothing, bu' I'm mad a' Aang," Sokka says, sort of correcting himself, but not really.

"I did something," Zuko says with a look that Sokka can't process "Bu' why are you ma' a' Aang?"

"Aang made you bes' man."

Zuko laughs a hearty, drunken laugh. "Silly, Sokka. Tha' was, like, a zillion years ago." He spreads his arms out in a grand gesture to illustrate how large a zillion is.

"Yeah, bu' tha' was mean."

"Aww." Zuko puts his arm Sokka and pats his shoulder.

"Aang likes you be'er," Sokka says, sadly. Sokka doesn't get drunk often, but when he does, he isn't a happy drunk like Zuko.

"Tha' is so dumb, Sokka," Zuko says, waving the thought away with his hands. "Aang, loves you and stuff."

Sokka shakes his head, but doesn't say anything.

"You're a good guy, Sokka," Zuko tells him, then looks down. "I'm a bad guy."

"You're not a bad guy anymore. You're good now." Sokka nods, smiling.

"No. I'm bad. I did something bad," he says, quietly. He looks away and makes that face again.

"Wha' you do?" Sokka asks.

"It's a secret," Zuko whispers.

"You can tell me. We're buddies," Sokka says loudly, now putting _his_ arm around Zuko, but Zuko is shaking his head.

"I'm a bad buddy."

"Why?"

Zuko looks at him and he looks both very wasted and very lucid at the same time, like what he's about to say is equal parts frivolous and profound. "Good buddies," he says, pausing somewhat dramatically "Don't sleep with their buddy's girlfriend."

Sokka wants to laugh because it sounds like a joke. Everything about it seems very much like a joke. The dramatic pause made it seem like a joke. The look on his face made it seem like a joke. The words have got to be a joke, but even though Zuko is drunk, his eyes are piercing and they don't have joke written on them anywhere, and even though Sokka is drunk he can _feel _the weight of what Zuko is telling him.

It's weird. He's both surprised and not at all. He's surprised on the face of it. He surprised because he's obligated to feel surprised, but then, it explains a hell of a lot doesn't it? It explains Suki's behavior completely. It explains where she was all those hours of all those days. It explains her distance. It explains Toph's face too, because he's sure Toph knows, but maybe the alcohol is making him paranoid. Maybe they all know. Maybe all of them knew except for him. Maybe they'll all jump out and laugh at him for being such a fucking idiot.

Zuko is still looking at him in that drunk/not drunk at all way and Sokka wants to hit him so he does. He punches him right in the nose because he doesn't know what else to do with his hands or any part of him, but punching Zuko in the face seems appropriate. He wonders, if he were sober, would he have punched him harder. He probably would have. He probably will when the hurt feels less numb and more like hurt.

He's about to punch him again, when he hears "Sokka? What the hell are you doing?" It's Aang. Sokka would _love _to punch that prick in the face too. Would absolutely love that.

"I'm punching Zuko in the face, what's it look like I'm doin'?" he snaps, sarcastically.

"Are you drunk?" That's Katara.

"Yes, I am, thanks for asking," Sokka slurs. He really should hit Zuko one more time before it's too late, so he turns to him, drawing his fist back, but before he can land the blow, Aang's hand is on his arm.

"Sokka! What the fuck is wrong with you? Stop it," Aang yells, sounding superior and lecture-y even though he used the word fuck, and Sokka _really _wants to punch him in the face.

"Wha's wrong with me? Wha's wrong?! Wha' do you think? Zuko fucked my girlfriend, that's wha's wrong, and don't look shocked 'cause I bet you knew, since you're all buddy buddy with Zuko. I be' he told you and you guys laughed about' it!"

"Sokka, what are you saying?" Aang asks, and even though he's almost seventeen, he still has such wide, childlike eyes and they make him look ignorant, like he really doesn't get what Sokka is talking about.

"Zuko. Fucked. Suki." Sokka says, slowly because he's drunk and he wants to get it through Aang's thick bald head.

"Sokka, I think…" and he's sounding all lecture-y and superior again, but before Sokka decides to hit him, Zuko interrupts.

"It's true, Aang," he says, quietly.

"What?" Aang looks disbelieving, which is annoying. It's almost like he can't believe that Zuko would do something like that. What, so Sokka is punching him for no reason?

Zuko looks somewhere over Aang's shoulder "Just ask her."

Sokka turns and it's Suki. "Ask me…" she looks around, confused. She may have heard the commotion, but she must not have heard anything specific.

"If you slept with Zuko, here," Sokka practically spits, gesturing haphazardly in Zuko's direction.

Her dark blue eyes go impossibly wide and they shift from person to person. Everyone is looking at her with a different expression. Sokka with anger, Zuko with resignation, Aang with horror and Katara with hurt.

"I…I…" she looks at Sokka and her eyes flash with deep pain and Sokka almost feels guilty for a second, but then reminds himself that she is the guilty one. He had cheated on her while he was away, yes, but it was the first thing he told her when he returned. He'd begged for her forgiveness and didn't expect it, was resigned to the fact that he may have ruined their relationship, destroyed her trust in him, but he was more than willing to accept the consequences for his actions. Then she'd forgiven him and he hadn't thought twice. Thatwas his true mistake. He should have prodded. He should have wondered, but he didn't because he selfishly convinced himself that she loved him so much that she could forgive him that easily. How stupid that had been.

The baby. The baby he'd been loving and bragging about since he knew it existed might not even be his.

"How could you do this to me?" he whispers. It's barely audible, but it's so predictable that everyone must know what he's saying.

"I…I didn't want this!" Suki cries. "I didn't want this! I didn't want this! People get what they deserve, but I don't deserve this!" She's crying now, more than Sokka has ever seen her cry. "I made one mistake, and this is what I get? I didn't want to hurt you. Spirits, I didn't want to hurt anyone, but look at the mess I've made. I…" she looks down and makes a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob "I've destroyed everything, haven't I?"

Sokka isn't feeling sympathetic, but he says "No, you _and _Zuko destroyed everything." He looks back at the Fire Lord and the Fire Lord says nothing different. "You seriously didn't know?" he asks Aang now. His whole world is crumbling to dust so he might as well know the whole truth, no matter how painful. He's craving the pain now, it makes him feel more real in the total unreality of the situation.

"Of course I didn't know! What makes you think I knew?" Aang asks, still with the disbelief. He almost seems offended.

"Shit, Aang, I don't know, I just thought maybe _best _friends told each other things and since Zuko's your best friend he might have told you."

"No, he didn't," Aang says, not denying the best friend accusation like Sokka hoped and feared he would.

"So he _is_ your best friend," Sokka says quietly, really not feeling that drunk anymore, and he's surprised to find sobriety more numbing than less so. He no longer has the urge to hit anything, and it's harder now because he doesn't have as much anger to keep him afloat atop the sadness. Now he's just drowning and it's not pleasant or overly unpleasant or anything at all. It's just drowning. Maybe he should be alarmed by this but he's too tired for alarm.

"Sokka," Aang says, "_You're _my best friend and I know this is hard for you-"

"Shut up, Aang," Sokka says tiredly, "Just shut up. If you were really my friend, you wouldn't be like this."

"Like what, Sokka?"

"This! You're doing it again. Condescending has become your new thing with me hasn't it? You brush me off. You treat me like I'm no big deal, I'm only _Sokka _after all!" Suddenly his anger is flaring and he's mad at all of them. It's not just the cheating or Aang it's just everything. To dust.

"Sokka! That's not true at all!" Aang yells, exasperated.

"Really, because it sure as hell feels that way! Everyone…" he says this quietly, shakes his head. "Everyone treats me like that. I'm only Sokka after all." And with that he brushes past Aang and walks away.

He realizes it's not all true, but some of it is and he hasn't had the time to properly deal with Suki because he's in too deep and he's needs to come up for some air before he's ready for that, but some of it's true and it's all hurting and swirling inside him and he doesn't even see Toph when he passes her, didn't even know she was there.

* * *

The silence is glass in the wake of Sokka's departure. A single move or breath will shatter it and nobody seems sure whether that would be a good thing or a bad thing. If it would be breaking out of somewhere dangerous, or breaking the only thing keeping them safe.

Aang isn't sure what to feel or if he's feeling anything. He looks at Zuko and is reminded of a dead platypus-bearskin rug he had once seen. Dead, gutted, deflated and walked all over. He looks at Suki and, keeping with the animal theme - which is merely something in his mind to hang on to lest he slip - is reminded of a fish out of water. Gasping for air or maybe for truth or maybe for some way to stop gasping. Katara looks more like a plant than anything. Still, but swaying in the aftermath of the storm that just occurred.

Aang hadn't noticed Toph was there, standing somewhere off to the left. He doesn't notice her until she leaves, taking some of the strength out of the silence and making it brittle, more prone to cracking and he's surprised that Katara is the one to crack it first.

She does one of those half sob, laugh things and shakes her head.

"Look at us," she says. "Just look." Her hand shoots to her mouth, trying to keep the sob from escaping and then she looks around with huge eyes. "Look at us," she probably repeats, but her hand muffles the words. Then she turns on her heel, eyes still as wide and hand still covering her mouth and walks, other arm rigid and hand balled into a fist by her side.

"Katara," Aang says, but it's quiet and raspy like all the screaming he'd been doing in his head has taken his voice. He looks back at Zuko and Suki, wants to judge them, realizes he can't, and takes off after his wife.

She's in the room by the time Aang catches up. She breathing hard and her face is red and he figures she must have been running.

"You shouldn't run," he says without any emotion in particular. "You said it's not good for the baby." He sits beside her on the bed. None of the lamps are lit so the room looks blue rather then red, lit up only by the stars and the moon through the window.

"Suki's baby might not be Sokka's," she says. It's apparent by the pain the statement etches on her face that this hurts her.

"Yes," Aang replies, having nothing better to say.

"Look at us," she says once again, doing the half sob/laugh. "Look what we've become."

"Adults," Aang says.

"Are we really, or is this childish? I can't tell."

Aang doesn't have an answer.

"We're falling apart," she whispers "Remember the good old days? Right after the war? Those were good days. All of us were friends. Mai and Zuko were still together. Sokka and Suki were hopelessly in love. Toph was Toph. Ty Lee was happy. Azula was locked up where she belonged and we all weren't waiting for some kind of Azula induced apocalypse. I miss that. I miss those things, when everything was simpler and maybe more childish and innocent or maybe less so."

"We haven't fallen," Aang breathes.

"What?"

"We haven't' fallen apart, you and I? Everything is crumbling to dust around us, but we're still we," Aang says and it's corny but necessary to conteract the impending doom.

"Katara." Aang says her name with the utmost reverence. He cups her chin with his hand and tilts her face up so he can look her right in the eye. "I still love you and I always will."

Her eyes dart away "I wonder if that's what Zuko told Mai or Suki told Sokka."

"We aren't them."

"We could be! Who's to say?" She's crying, pleading with him to give her an answer. It's not a rhetorical question in her eyes. She wants to know who says.

"We do," Aang says firmly "We say so. I could never break your heart Katara. I have loved you for too long and worked too hard…" his voice breaks and he chokes but he keeps going. He'll keep saying these words until he can't breath anymore if that's how long it takes "I've worked too hard to get you to fall in love with me, to make you my wife. It's my greatest achievement. Greater than winning any war or beating any foe. _We've _worked too hard to build this." He touches Katara's stomach, thinking about the little life they created. He thinks about how he never thought it would happen, how this wasn't a part of his destiny, but it's here. Life, a heart that he helped create, beating inside the women he lives and breathes for. No, they won't end up like Sokka and Suki or Mai and Zuko "Because, this," he says, speaking as if he's said his previous sentence aloud and gesturing to Katara and then himself "can't be broken."

A sob takes Katara's breath and she puts her arms around Aang, crying and pressing her body close and Aang puts one hand on her back and one hand on her stomach and says "This is us. Our family. It can't be broken."

Katara nods. "I love you, Aang."

"I love you too, Katara." He pats her abdomen "And you too in there."

* * *

The Gaang. It's all breaking and broken and trying to put itself back together again. The war had brought them all together and now the giant, gaping hole, that it's left - said hole not being bad on principle, only in practice and only in relation to the gaang - is slowly pulling them apart, piece by piece, and Azula thinks as she reaches the crest of a hill, overlooking the capital, that this world needs a war. That this world needs to burn, and that she would very much like to be the one to burn it.

She turns to look at Fu beside her and she's learned to tolerate his presence, if only so that she doesn't have to talk to herself.

"We're here Fu. Are you ready to begin?"

"Yes, of course."

"Go oversee the preparations," Azula snaps at him.

"Yes, Azula!"

Azula smiles one of those rare smiles that people are lucky to go their entire lives without seeing. It's a smile brought to the face by hatred, blood lust, insanity, and a certain degree of self-loathing. It has persistently adorned Azula's face for the past few days because she's getting closer. Closer to the end of all the people who hurt her and all the people they care about because Azula has realized something. They care about the world. All the _innocent _people therein. They can _all_ burn. She'll gladly set everything on fire if it makes them suffer just a little bit more, and then, maybe, mommy will realize that Azula is better. She'll realize that she's doing it all for her, and then mommy will love her.

_Right, Mommy?_

* * *

**__****Fight! Fight! Fight!**

****First of all, this chapter was obscenely fun to write and for once, I'm actually pretty happy with how it turned out. I wrote it all in one go. Sure, there are things I would've gone back and changed if it weren't friday and I didn't write this on thursday, but whatever. Anyhow, lots of CONFLICT. The main criticism I got, especially for the last chapter (which obviously wasn't my best, I'm really sorry guys) was that there really wasn't and hasn't been enough conflict between characters. I decided to throw caution to the wind and have the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth come out. I did this for a very specific reason: I want their heads to be out of the game for the attack. I want them to be distracted and angry and have a really hard time because that's what makes shit like this interesting! So, there you have it. I hope there was enough kataangyness (wow, awesome word!) for some people ;) and that overall this chapter was better than the last completely pointless filler chapter. Thank you to my amazingly amazing reviewers whom I love (theretrogamer224, Mrs. Shikamaru Nara, SuperNova and kataang21) for reviewing. Please keep helping me out, reviews help my writing so much I can't even tell you. Critique is what makes this thing better! So please keep reviewing, anybody anywhere! And follow and fav (please?). I actually have a bet with myself, I'm trying to get more followers on my avatar story than my Naruto story. It's not easy (damn Naruto yaoi fangirls). If you don't, I love just about anyone who's reading this. Seriously. Btw, maybe...three chapters left? I'm thinking three now, but don't hold me to it. We shall see. On Next Weeks Episode: Azula Attacks! Bum, BUM, **BUM! **

****Yeah, she y'all later. xoxoxox


	13. The End of the World

I should have screamed at her. She might've woken up.  
It'd make a much better story than the one I've got,  
Because the world heard all it cared to hear about dying.

She's a saint and I'm a predator. We never pray alone.  
The lord built me from dirt to build her out of my bones.  
That's how the world heard all it ever could about lying.

- The Venetia Fair, _Pride Alone Won't Put This Fire Out_

* * *

Aang had once had a dream where fire rained down from the sky, torching the Earth and leaving him alone, overlooking the devastation. That saying "dreams do come true" isn't a load of bullshit after all. To bad it's this, of all dreams.

Katara wakes to the collective shrieking in the distance. "What's going on?" she mumbles, one hand on her stomach the other rubbing her eyes.

Aang doesn't answer. He gets up and walks to the window, making sure that what he is seeing is real and not just the nightmare lingering. Sure enough, the morning has brought with it a rain of fire, setting the capital city alight.

"Spirits, help us," Aang whispers.

Katara stands and joins him at the window "Oh," she says, and it's sad and quiet. "Oh," she says again.

Aang looks at her, then back at the window. "She's here," he says. He tears his eyes away with effort. Pain, suffering and fire tend to draw people's attention, cause them to be slow and to stare when they should be running in the opposite direction. When they should be doing something about it. Aang thinks it is an unfortunate symptom of the human condition.

He gets dressed hurriedly, Katara doing the same. Whatever is going on out there is what they've been for waiting for all these months. The Ghost Attack is what they have been calling it. Aang is still surprised.

"Katara," he says, "Stay here."

Katara has one leg in her pants "Excuse me?"

"Stay here," he repeats firmly, pointing at the ground near her feet for emphasis. He makes for the door.

"No way, Aang," Katara says.

Aang turns, hand on the door "Katara," he begins long sufferingly.

"Shut up. I'm going. You can't stop me."

"Katara, I know you're strong. I know you can take care of yourself, but you're not only responsible for yourself anymore."

Katara looks down at herself. She sighs. "I know that. I don't want to fight, but I've got to be there to heal the wounded."

Aang winces, it's unfortunate that they're already preparing for the wounded. The battle hasn't even really begun, they haven't even seen what Azula's forces are like, but fire is raining from the sky so it can't be good. "Fine, but, please Katara…"

"I know, Aang. Of course," she says, tying her sash below her belly and walking up to the door "I know." She gives Aang a kiss. "Go, I'm right behind you." Aang nods slowly then takes off at a run.

When he gets outside he is immediately choked by the smoke. Bending the air around him, he pushes the smoke away and tries to asses the damage. The roof of the palace is on fire and people are screaming, running around confused and blind.

He sees an elderly couple, dazed and wandering. A few men running, but not knowing where they're going, meeting walls and dead ends. He sees a woman, two children in hand, crying, confused. He feels hatred. Hatred toward Azula. If those were his kids… He can say he almost knows what it feels like. He's worried about his child right now, hoping that they, and the woman who shields them with her very body, will be alright, because if they were hurt, Aang _will_ kill Azula. He feels it like a disease. It eats away at his morale, at his nature, and leaves in its place something raw and unfamiliar. He will kill Azula. He's never killed anyone in his life and never wants to, but he _will _make an exception for Azula.

First, though, he's got to get everyone to safety, then he, and hopefully Zuko and Toph, will deal with Azula. "Hey!" he calls. People turn to look, to find where the voice is coming from, but they can't see through the smoke. He directs the airflow up and away, pushing the smoke higher into the sky and clearing it away from ground level.

"This way!" he gestures in the direction opposite the palace, where there is less fire. People run towards him frantically, and he leads them across the city. They stop frequently, the elderly, the children and the woman having trouble keeping up. The woman is pregnant. He looks at her and feels the spot where his morals lie being rubbed to nothing.

The world was at peace. They won the war and after a hundred years of suffering and dying, people could finally breath without the weight of war on their chests and people could enjoy the sun and life and not think about death. Now Azula is bringing it back to all these people whose homes are burning down, who's loved ones are still dying, and he hates her for it.

"This should be good. Stay here," he orders, arriving at a nondescript building near the wall of the volcano containing the city. They all nod, having no intention of leaving the place the Avatar has deemed safe, Aang only hopes that their trust in him pays off and doesn't get them killed.

From what he observed, most of the attack is directed at the Palace. The outskirts of the city are more or less untouched and he hopes that this remains the case.

"I have to go, now," he tells them. They look at him with horrified, pleading eyes that scream "stay here, keep us safe." "I have to go look for more survivors, just stay put." He spares another glance at the pregnant mother, pulling her children into her as if she can return them to her body and protect them from whatever happens beyond it.

He leaves, pushes more smoke up and makes his way back. He tells everyone he passes to head for the edge of the city. As he gets closer to the capital, he expects to hear more screaming, find more people running. He finds bodies in the streets. They wear arrows in their backs.

"Twinke toes!" he hears before a wall of rock appears in front of his face.

"Toph?!"

"Fuck, Aang, pay more attention!" Toph, for what may be the first time in her life, sounds frantic.

Aang peers around the wall and is met with the sight of the arrows that, if Toph weren't here, would be embedded throughout his body. "Thank you, Toph."

Toph nods. "All these people are dead," she states matter-of-factly.

"Yes, they are. Where's Azula?" Aang hopes she may have felt her presence somewhere.

"I don't know. Too much chaos," Toph explains. She looks terrified. Her eyes are wide like widening them will somehow allow her to see. She must feel the dead bodies all around better than Aang can see them, anyway. He wishes _he_ were blind because he doesn't want to see them or acknowledge the fact that he is standing in someone else's blood right now or that if he were to go left or right or forward or back he would still be standing in someone else's blood.

"We've got to find her," Aang tells her.

Toph nods, her eyes becoming a little less wide. She swallows down her fear and seems a little more herself now that she has something concrete to do. "Ok, I'll go this way-"

"No, we shouldn't split up. We don't know how many people Azula has got with her."

"Ok," she breathes, sounding relieved.

"Let's go."

They take off, Aang dodging falling debris and pulling Toph out of the way, because unfortunately, Toph's feet can't see anything off of the ground.

Toph turns quickly and launches a rock straight for a someones head. They dodge it the first time, but aren't so lucky the second time, a square peace of pavement hitting him square in the forehead, maybe killing him, maybe not.

"Toph, how did you know he was an enemy?" Aang askes, suddenly afraid Toph just killed an innocent person.

"I don't know, maybe because he had a bow and arrow and was aiming for your bald skull?" Toph says sarcastically.

"Sorry," Aang says. He blows as much smoke as he can away so he can see better. He does this just in time for a firebender to come rushing towards him. He blows him into a collapsing building. Another one comes from the right, this one wielding a sword. Aang launches him with a pillar of earth and pivots just in time to blow yet another away.

Toph seems to be having similar problems "How many of these guys are there?" she asks Aang, launching another piece of pavement at a guy with an ax.

Aang flips over four of then and knocks them all into the ground, sinking them in.

"I don't know," Aang says. He ducks under a guys sword, ending up behind him, and launches him into the air with another pillar of earth.

"We can't keep this up forever Twinkle Toes!" She stomps, getting rid of at least six of them with the earthquake her foot creates.

"I know that." Arrows come in fast. Aang counters them with an air cushion, shielding both him and Toph.

"What do we do?"She grunts as she lifts a section out of the ground, carrying two guys with it and drops them, hard.

Aang grits his teeth "Keep fighting."He knows that soon they'll get tired and soon they won't be able to fight anymore, but he doesn't know what else to do. Azula's men must have somehow managed to ambush the security force and get into the city. There could be thousands of them.

_Keep Fighting..._

* * *

"Katara! I've got another one!" Sokka is half dragging, half carrying a woman, a kyoshi warrior who thankfully isn't Ty Lee and unfortunately isn't Suki.

"Lay her here," Katara tells him.

"I'm going back out there," Sokka says.

Katara wants to tell him not to, but doesn't and he leaves. She examines the Kyoshi. She has a gash in her head that's bleeding profusely like head wounds do, but it doesn't look serious. She must have been knocked down and hit her head on something. She's already coming to.

Katara gets to work healing her head wound, feeling tired and nearing her limit. She doesn't know how many hours she's been treating burns and arrow wounds, but she feels like she's seen hundreds. They all blur together in a haze of suffering that she wants to scrub her memories clean of. She feels more numb than she's ever felt. She looks out the window and it's already nearing sunset. She can't decided whether it feels too early or too late. Did this really all start this morning? Will it ever end? It's been twelve hours at the most and the onslaught hasn't waned. Katara is startled by the fact that she can't seem to remember a time when there wasn't death and fire everywhere.

She watched mothers die today. She watched children die too. From what she's heard, firebenders, hundreds of them, having been setting everything aflame. The guards that are stationed around the city was overwhelmed by their sheer numbers. Archers shoot everything that moves. This isn't some little rag tag force that Azula has put together, this is an army straight from hell. She isn't sure how many their are, she gotten pretty skewed numbers from her patients, housed here in what was once a fabric warehouse and now a makeshift infirmary. The Hospital burned down hours ago and this was the biggest building they could find on the outskirts of town.

"Are you alright?" she asks the Kyoshi, who's slowing opening her eyes.

"Where's Ty Lee?" she slurs. "Do you know where Ty Lee is?!" She sits up quickly then falls back down. "Oww…my head."

"You should be careful. You took a bad hit and it isn't fully healed."

"I have to find Ty Lee. She could be in trouble," the kyoshi warrior insists.

Katara, puts two and two together. "You're Yuko, right? Ty Lee's girlfriend?"

"Yes…sort of. She's not here right?"

"No. I don't know where she is. She hasn't been here and Sokka hasn't mentioned her, so…" Yuko looks horrified. "She must be alive," Katara adds quickly. "Sokka's in charge of finding the wounded and finding out who's…dead." She chokes on the word so bad it doesn't sound like a word, just a noise someone makes when they're in pain. She's trying to block everything she's seeing out. She can't think about all the people she's lost today. They'll tear her apart.

"I see. So it's a good thing he hasn't seen her," Yuko says quietly, reassuring herself.

"Yes."

Yuko gets up, sways on her feet, but remains standing. "I have to go. I don't know what she'll try. I promised myself I'd keep her safe."

Katara smiles for the first time today "You really love her."

"So much," Yuko says, shaking her head like she can't believe _how _much. Katara knows the feeling.

"She's lucky to have you," Katara tells her honestly.

"Yeah, I tell her that all the time," Yuko says, managing a joke in this air, in this pain.

"Here," Katara says, struggling a bit to stand. Yuko, the one who's supposed to be injured, takes her hand and helps her to her feet. Katara admonishes herself for not being able to pick her five months pregnant self off of the ground on her own. "I'll heal it as much as I can."

"Thank you, Katara."

When Katara is finished, Yuko leaves just in time for the world to explode.

* * *

There is an explosion. A big one by the sound and feel of it.

"What the hell was that?" Suki yells.

"I don't know!" Zuko yells back. He looks around and he must see her because his eyes widen with surprise as his mouth curls in disgust, painting a telling picture.

"You," he whispers, though she's far away and hasn't notice them, trying the make their way to the edge of the city. "You burned down my palace. You killed my people. You…you…"

Suki places a hand on his arm. "Zuko-"

"I have to go. She'll pay for what she's done." And then he's gone before Suki can stop him.

She looks in the direction of the explosion, tells herself it's a bad idea, then hurries, as fast a six months pregnant woman can, towards the collapsed buildings.

The screams and the smell of burning flesh gets worse as she approaches. People with missing arms are helping people with missing legs and it's something out of the worst nightmare the most sick and twisted person in the world could dream up.

She wants to scream, and not stop until everything goes away, but she gags instead. She knows only the Capital City is burning, but it feels like the whole world is on fire. There can't possibly be a place in this world where blood isn't boiling in the streets and fires aren't raging and people aren't dying and suffering in a way that she didn't think possible. This is no longer the deluded revenge scheme of a crazy woman. This is hell.

"What now?!" one hysterical woman shrieks. "The hospital burned down, now this! We're all gonna die! They'll kill us all, they'll kill us all, they'll kill us all…" She starts up a chant and doesn't stop. Nobody stops her.

"Wait!" Suki yells "Was this like an infirmary?"

A little boy who seems mostly unscathed is sitting next to a body charred far beyond recognition. Maybe it was his mother. Maybe it was his father. Maybe it was a complete stranger. Now it's a burnt and blackened slab of meat.

"Yes," he says. Just yes. Nothing else.

Suki's eyes become disks. She'd hoped for a "no". _If this was an infirmary…_"Katara!" she screams. "Katara!" She knows she must be here. "Katara!" She starts making her way around the burning rubble, not wanting to see, but needing to find her. She _must _be here.

"Katara!"

"Help…"comes the reply. It's quiet.

"Katara! Thank the spirits!" There is blood down the front of her tunic, but Suki doesn't see a wound.

"I'll get you out!" She pushes rubble out of the way, straining and struggling against the limitations that her body, the baby, has put on her. She has to save Katara or else she'll never be forgiven. She can't die and she can't let Katara die without forgiving her. She doesn't know why it means so much, but if someone could forgive her for what she did…

"I'll get you out!" She repeats. She pulls a beam out of the way, making an opening for Katara to fit through. Katara gives her her hand, slicked completely red with blood. He other hand is clutched to her chest.

"I've got you," Suki says. She pulls Katara out of the rubble. Katara stumbles and falls to her knees.

"She's dead," Katara says quietly.

"What?"

"She's dead," Katara repeats. She pulls her other hand away from her chest.

Suki wants to vomit, but can't. He throat is blocked and she's incapable of speaking or breathing or living in this moment any longer. The horror of what she sees is to much too grasp and too much to look away from.

It could be a baby if you look at it a certain way, or it could just be a bloody mess. It has eyes and a nose and a mouth and arms and legs and fingers and even fingernails, but its - her- head is misshappened and she fits in Katara's palm. Katara has the umbilical cord wrapped around one arm, still connected to her and what would have, could have been a baby.

It's dead. She's dead.

Katara wails like it's the end of the world, which, for all Suki knows, it could very well be.

* * *

**The end is near...**

So yeah. I don't know how I feel about this chapter. I loved some parts and hated others, but that happens. Who cares what I think, I wanna here what you all think! Speaking of which, more thank you's. Big thanks to LP2WaterLily for the super epic review of the whole story so far! I really appreciate it. You are awesome. Thank you to all my regulars (theretrogamer224, Mrs. Shikamaru Nara, kataang 21, and SuperNova) Thank you to .739 and The Blackeyed Susan for the love. Thank you to that one Guest! You know who you are. I actually got the most reviews ever for the last chapter so I guess people liked it? It makes me happy. I succeeded at something! I hope this chapter made everyone happy too (by happy I mean depressed) and are looking forward to the next (depressing) chapter! Woohoo...Anyway, pretty self explanatory. The fight continues. So yeah. Once again, big, BIG, **BIG **ass thank you's to all of you reviewers and all of you who are reading this. It motivates me to keep writing, knowing that I might actually be decent at it!

Peace out!


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